Why is it so important to have a professionally designed website for your society? We're so glad you asked! As a researcher, branding and digital presence may not be high on your list of priorities, but trust us when we say it matters.
Websites are undoubtedly an essential aspect of every academic organisation. They allow you to be found, boost your credibility, and are in themselves, a form of advertisement for you and your research.
Like it or not, the look and feel of your organisation’s brand and digital presence are a direct reflection of the quality of your science, and the value you place on your work. It is also an easy way for funding bodies to corroborate information on your grant applications.
Therefore, it is imperative that your website is easy to navigate and looks professional – with a hint of personality to set you apart.
Creating a beautiful website
Of course, you can create a website yourself. We even wrote a blog about it: Building a great website for your research. But the reality is, building and maintaining a great website takes time and energy that could be spent discovering that next great scientific breakthrough!
That’s the exact position the team at the Australian Society for Biophysics (ASB) found themselves in and is just one reason why you should consider a professionally designed website for your society.
A common problem
The ASB team had built and maintained their society’s website for years, but being a team of academics with research to do and grants to submit, they never found the time to update it or improve its functionality for their members.
Seemingly small details like ensuring the website was mobile compatible, and automating much of the administration work, were just some of the issues the ASB flagged as needing immediate attention.
So they came to us for some assistance to revamp the look and feel of their society, and take away all the stress associated with trying to build a professional website with no time, and little expertise.
“Like many other professional societies of academia, we are all very snowed in – we needed a kick to get going with a full overhaul and to be able to introduce the systems we needed to reduce our annual workload. Molly quickly understood our priorities and we now have a much better “first impression” of what Australian biophysics is all about; with better integration with our neighbours and collaborators overseas.”
– Matthew Baker, President of the Australian Society for Biophysics
The key to a successful website revamp
To begin, we ran a full content audit. This included everything on the old website from copy (the words), to images, logos, submission forms, meeting minutes – anything we might need for our new designs.
A content audit assists us in developing a site map or informational architecture for the new website. It also highlights where the content gaps are within that framework so we can create the additional content we need to produce a complete site.
From here we worked alongside the ASB team to develop everything we needed to move into the design and developing stage and build a website that properly reflected the ASB brand and culture.
Once all the content had been compiled, we were able to take the entire project off the Society’s plate, clearing their schedules to get on with the important research in the field of biophysics.
The new society website isn’t just visually engaging, it’s also highly functional. The entire WordPress backend is customised to ensure it’s easy to edit and update as the ASB’s needs evolve. This makes updates and maintenance time-saving in the short term, and cost-saving in the years to come.
Expanding the ASB brand
As part of the website re-design, we also refreshed and re-purposed the ASB’s existing media. This included revisions to the colour palette, typography and a selection of relevant stock imagery to use across the website and future design work.
These were all used to generate new brand assets that we subsequently used across marketing collateral for the upcoming annual meeting and the ASB Twitter account.
“I have looked after the old ASB website for years but being an academic I just never found the time to upgrade it and improve its functionality for our members. Molly’s background in Science and previous work in the field means that she really knows what academic societies need and don’t need. She came up with wonderful design solutions that worked for us and adapted them to our needs. I could not recommend Molly and her team more highly.”
– Evelyne Deplazes, WebMaster for the Australian Society for Biophysics
About the Australian Society for Biophysics
The Australian Society for Biophysics (ASB) is a non-profit organisation that represents researchers, teachers – or anyone with an interest in using physics to study biological systems – like the human body! Since 1975 the ASB has fostered an inclusive community bound by a passion for knowledge sharing, innovation and contributing to the field of biophysics.
To read more about the ASB and stay up to date with all the latest news, events and community happenings visit their new website or follow them on Twitter.
Do you need a professionally designed website for your society?
We have a lot of experience branding and positioning established academic societies using great web design – just like the Australian Society for Biophysics! Check out some of the testimonials on our homepage to see how we’re saving others time, funding, and sanity through our designs and processes.
If you’re interested in us becoming your forever creative collaborator, book a free 30-minute consult with Molly to help you get the ball rolling on your next project – we can’t wait to work with you!