Cystic Fibrosis Nursing Association (CFNA) was established in 1988 to develop a national perspective and evaluation of the role of nursing within the field of Cystic Fibrosis. Now their organisation promotes collaboration, learning, and awareness for both the public and the nurses themselves. CFNA approached us needing a new website, one that could be both public facing and yet also have a members only area. The challenge was integrating these two distinct needs into a single site!
At the beginning of the project, as our team dug into CFNA’s ideas, we became aware that the website had challenges and that the CFNA brand itself could benefit from a revamp to bring more coherence. Polly and the team embarked on a ‘mini-rebrand’, updating logo and brand colours, while ensuring compatibility with the established NHS colour palette. This gave the site greater clarity, whilst also ‘growing up’ the brand to bring a sense of legitimacy to an organisation that does so much good. We also used this to create bespoke iconography that could be used throughout the site to help guide users to the information they required, and which could be used on other branded elements.
Our team addressed the dual needs of the public facing and members only areas by creating parallel sites in Duda and Waterhole, a Laravel forum system. Creating a Duda site meant they could easily customise and change the system going forward, which was a key requirement for a volunteer organisation with little time or capacity. It also facilitated a simple, fast landing page with clear information and site layout. We also developed a Laravel forum, using Waterhole, within the site, that is members-only. Within this area, registered members of CFNA can connect, offer advice, and post useful links to the latest research or grant information. This can be managed by the site administrators, who can quickly assess and give/ deny access to prospective members.
The CFNA project was one full of both challenge and opportunity. It allowed us to look at how different technology can work together, and provide a novel solution to a complex problem. Being able to work with CFNA to think through the drivers of their issues meant we could provide a more comprehensive and successful solution.
