Livewire — Redesigning the charity’s website
It was a matter of days after I published the previous blog post and wrote about our commitment to work with charities that Livewire Youth Project got in touch with us.
Andy and his team needed help managing and maintaining their existing website. Running updates, checking for speed and uptime and preventing hacks and spam is a tricky set of tasks to manage. Luckily I have the experience, tools and knowledge to help people, businesses and charities manage their websites.
Alongside the need to protect and maintain their website they also spoke about the need to tweak the design and layout of their website. As it was a custom-coded site it made it very hard for them to easily edit their own website. Being an Elementor agency, I recommended that their website being careful rebuilt and redesigned with Elementor. This would ensure they could manage their own website visually and effortlessly.
Making music, changing lives
Before I discuss how I have helped redesign the website for Livewire, I will tell you all about them and how they help young people.
Livewire Youth Project provides opportunities for young people across Cornwall and Devon. They aim to use contemporary music to unlock creativity and support young people. By providing a safe space for young people to spend their free time learning to play music, it allows them a chance to be creative.
As a former teacher, who worked in the area with the lowest social mobility in Britain, I fully understand the need to provide outlets for young people. Many coastal communities, especially across the South-West do not provide enough job opportunities or social opportunities for young people. It is up to Andy and his team at Livewire Youth Project to provide these vital experiences which will undoubtedly enrich the members’ lives.
Based in Saltash, in South Cornwall and on the banks of the Tamar river, Livewire provides many great opportunities for young people. Not only can you attend and learn to play and produce music, but you also get to perform live!
On their youth club project evenings, they allow local bands to play in their 250 capacity venue. They also, at least before Covid, ran regular live events where local bands can perform to a packed audience.
Backed by local businesses and some very famous ‘Rock Royalty’, Livewire also provide excellent support for youth mental health. As with all charities, the current pandemic has hit them hard financially. With people losing jobs and the economy hit, charity donations have dropped. If you do have the means, please do donate to Livewire.
Modernising for a modern audience
When approaching any website project it is vital I understand two factors. Firstly, what the business does and, secondly, who the target audience is.
With Livewire it is clear what they do and it is clear who their audience is. The website needs to be primarily appealing for young people to encourage them to join. It also needs to appeal to local businesses and potential corporate sponsors or donors to help out.
As the primary focus is on young people, the website needed to capture the attention of the younger eyes and, most crucially, work on smartphones! After all, 98% of 16–24 year-olds regularly use a smartphone.
Another key consideration for me was dyslexia. There is a very clear link between young people with issues around confidence and mental health and learning difficulties. If I were to make a website that excluded these people it would be having the entirely opposite effect the charity wanted to provide. By using dyslexia-friendly fonts, I made sure the website was easy for everyone to access.
The design and layout was also constructed to be as easy as possible for everyone to navigate. I’ve always been a fan of white space and calm design. Keeping colours, fonts and alignments consistent and simple makes for a neurologically easier experience for the user. No one wants to get frustrated trying to find what they’re looking for online!
As a redesign, the focus was on subtly and simply reorganising the current content. I worked to bring new colours and fonts to the website and ensure it all worked perfectly on all devices. Overall, the focus was on modernising, not revolutionising the website.
Please do check out the new Livewire Youth Project website!
Ongoing maintenance and support
As part of my initial commitment, I will be providing ongoing maintenance and support for the Livewire website. From managing updates to monitoring uptime and loading time, I provide a watchful eye to ensure the website is always working perfectly.
At Tiny Blue Rocket, we are now managing a wide variety of WordPress websites. The aim of our website maintenance is to make life easier for business owners by them delegating website tasks to us.
We also provide white-label website maintenance. This service allows other agencies, freelancers and designers to outsource the work of managing clients’ websites and get back to designing great websites!
In summary
Take some time today to check out the redesigned Livewire Youth Project website. With a modernised design, it’s a great example of what we can do to help businesses, charities and sole traders get their perfect website!
If you are looking to launch a new business or give an existing one a makeover, please do reach out to us at Tiny Blue Rocket.
