New Website for the Cambridgeshire Police Federation Share: Ballyhoo Score Awaiting client review n/a Date Published 18 May 2023 Reading Time 5-Minute Read Ballyhoo designed a modern website for the Cambridgeshire Police Federation, allowing the federation’s members to browse helpful resources and gain key information. The Challenge Cambridgeshire Police Federation represents officers and staff in the local constabulary, providing resources such as legal advice, health retreats and welfare caravan stays. The federation needed a new website, as their current Joomla site was outdated and hard to navigate. Following discussions, it was agreed that a sleek user interface based on user-friendly WordPress would be needed. Apart from a new platform, the client also wished to streamline their content, while making certain resources, such as member offers and welfare resources, more prominent. With over a third of the traffic on the federation’s site coming from mobile devices, and steadily increasing, it was important for the new site to be fully responsive. The Solution Working closely with Cambridgeshire police, and drawing on our long experience of working with them and other federations, we built a proposal for the following. Content audit and planning Custom website using CRM WordPress software Bespoke design and development of custom federation reps and member blocks Resources without user registration required Modern design with latest technologies Secure platform. Branding Crest The Cambridgeshire Police Federation was keen to include its crest in the new website design. However, the best quality version we could source was a little ‘blocky’ and low-resolution, meaning that it felt outdated and wouldn’t fit in with the new site. We recreated the crest in vector format and made a few, small tweaks in line with the Cambridgeshire Constabulary crest to modernize it. Design As we were designing the website from scratch, it allowed us to create a fully responsive design with more functionality than before. Looking at data, we knew that the website had to be device responsive due to a growing percentage of users browsing the site from mobile devices. We designed the website with this in mind, ensuring that it looked consistent on all devices – from large screens right down to smaller mobile screens. We chose to use a bright fluorescent yellow accent shade in contrast with the dark blue palette used throughout the logo and branding, maintaining the website’s affiliation with the national Police Federation of England and Wales. A further red accent color associated with the main constabulary and seen on the crest was also used to good effect. It was important that the site felt like a hub that members could quickly navigate to find the information they needed. On the homepage in particular, we wanted users to arrive and instantly be able to see links to the most frequently used sections of the site. A masonry layout incorporating local imagery and card-based information was the ideal way to achieve this for users, a style that was echoed in the Members’ Area and other sections of the website. Technical Details WordPress Choosing WordPress as the new platform allowed us to code the website from scratch, adding custom functionality and the ability to edit the website in line with design best practices. WordPress would also allow admins to easily add and change content, which would be essential for updating the site with the latest news. Members Area The previous Cambridgeshire Police Federation website had user registration; however, the client felt that this was a barrier to engagement and decided that it would no longer be necessary. Because of this, we created a Members’ Area that still held useful resources, but without the need for user registration, meaning that users had one less step to complete before finding key information. Key Features Who’s Who It was clear that website users had to know who to contact for various services at the Cambridgeshire Police Federation. Because it helps to build trust among members, we built an advanced custom fields block to showcase federation members clearly and concisely. This custom WordPress block also allowed us to pull specific members onto each page – for example, showcasing members who were trained in health and safety regulations on the Health and Safety page. Sponsor Banners The Cambridgeshire Police Federation offers advertising space to its service providers. Therefore an area to add banners, with a link to the provider’s website, was built into the footer of the website, appearing on all pages. Advertisers also benefit from their own pages on the website with the option to add external links and useful downloads for members. Welfare Caravans The Federation offers access to two welfare caravans for members to book for respite and relaxation away from the stresses of their job. We built individual pages for these, showcasing imagery in a gallery, with optional functionality to submit booking requests online. The Result The website now allows the Cambridgeshire Police Federation to effectively engage with its stakeholders, and has strengthened Ballyhoo’s long-standing relationship with the federation. If you are looking for custom website development, get in touch now to see how we can help by calling us on 0121 295 5352, or sending an email to hello@ballyhoo.co.uk.