The problem
Imara is a Nottingham charity supporting children, young people and families after a disclosure of child sexual abuse or domestic abuse. Their website existed and it worked, but it had not kept pace with the charity itself. It was not built to be responsive on mobile. The design felt dated. And most critically, the site was not built for the people who needed help most – it was built more for organisations and professionals.
This was not a small challenge. The site had to serve two completely different audiences at once, and both were visiting in difficult circumstances. A young person looking for help needed to find it in seconds. A professional referring someone into the service needed to find referral information fast. The old site tried to do both and ended up serving neither well.
What we set out to achieve
The brief had three parts. First, make the site responsive since it had been built for desktop only. Second, refresh the visual identity to match Imara’s rebrand. Third, and most important, create a clear path for someone to get help – something the existing site lacked.
But there was a deeper challenge underneath. I needed to design one site that worked for two completely different groups of people with completely different needs. Get it wrong and either young people looking for help would get lost, or professionals using the site for training and referrals would find it cluttered with content meant for someone else.
The design approach
I started by mapping out what each audience actually needed. Young people visiting the site need one thing: to find help. Professionals need to find referral information and training resources. These are not the same journey.
The Get Help Now page became the priority. It had to be found in seconds from anywhere on the site. Not buried in a menu. Not hidden behind other content. The main navigation stayed straightforward and obvious so people could find what they came for – whether that was help, donations or volunteering.
For the professionals, I kept the same principle. Referral information and training resources needed to be fast to locate, without wading through content meant for a different audience entirely.
Colour and imagery mattered more on this project than most. I chose a calm, warm palette and gentle, hopeful visuals rather than anything stark or corporate. A site like this has to feel safe before it feels anything else. That choice shaped every visual decision.
Accessibility was part of the brief from day one, not something to check at the end. Imara’s audience is wide and vulnerable. That meant proper attention to readability, mobile responsiveness and accessibility checks throughout the build.
I also gave space to Imara’s impact stories. These are real examples of what donations and community support actually make possible. That section exists to turn a visitor into someone who gives, fundraises or volunteers.
Technical foundations
Imara’s site runs on WordPress, which I work with regularly. WordPress gave us the flexibility to manage content without needing developer help every time something needed to change. Tara, the main contact at Imara, could update the site as the charity evolved.
What changed
The finished site does something most websites do not have to do: get someone to the right kind of help in seconds, whilst still working for the professionals referring them in. That is a different kind of pressure. It shapes every decision, from navigation structure to colour palette to how copy is written.
Young people now find the Get Help Now page immediately. Professionals find what they need without distraction. The site is responsive across all devices. The visual identity reflects the rebrand. And the impact stories are there to turn visitors into supporters.