We were asked by the Association for Professors of Social Work to create a website and identity to promote their activities and reach out to their membership. With members from universities across the UK, the APSW promote and develop social work education and research through various activities, events and meetings.
off-white: a brand identity
To set the style for the website, as well as to to give some impact to future publications, we first set about pulling together a simple brand identity. Something that could be easily adapted by members to various templates, whether for documents and reports or PowerPoint presentations. The style has a simple colour palette of white, an off-white, a feature green and black text. With its wide range of weights, the Monsterrat font is very flexible.
To keep a serious, professional tone, as well as a unique look, we applied a ‘black and off-white’ style to some stock photography, giving the team a repository of photos to draw from that cover the various aspects of their work, from family and social work situations, to academia and some background textures.
the brand in action
In Summer 2021, the APSW organised a series of ‘Knowledge and Evidence Events’. For each of the four events a document was published summarising the key points and discussions. We put these together into branded documents that look like this:
WordPress to impress
The website uses WordPress for several, by now obvious reasons – the blog, the customisability, the responsiveness. Using a leading page builder plugin, each page was crafted to its content.
The events calendar synchronises with a shared Google calendar. If any team member adds an event it appears.
The page builder enables precise mobile and tablet customisation, so that the site looks great on any device. Although please don’t look at it whilst driving like the man in this stock photo!
A research repository
Although not yet live, the site features a bespoke repository for member publications. With an intentionally simple interface, users can filter articles, books, chapters and reports and find the latest research on a topic. There’s a page on the front-end for members to add their publications, without needing to log in.
Maintenance and management of the site
The site has given the APSW a great platform to grow with. They are making use of our website maintenance service to keep the site secure, updated and backed up. They have also received training in adding their own content so that they can be self-sufficient where it makes sense.
Are you looking for a site for your association?
Tools such as WordPress make the process quick and the end result slick. And it doesn’t have to cost the Earth. If you have been looking to get started with a web presence for your association please get in touch for a chat. We have worked with several and will at least have some good ideas for you.