Age Concern Manchester works with older people across the city by giving information, helpful advice, volunteering and care service at home to ensure they have no concerns about growing old.
The previous Age Concern Manchester website was somewhat dated and not consistent with their printed Silver Service newspaper. They needed a new website which was user friendly and catered to the needs of their target audience, the elderley.
Before we considered the content of the website, the ease-of-use and navigation needed to suit the target audience, especially people with less accurate mouse control. All pages are designed to scale up naturally which caters for users who wish to zoom in or view the page on a larger monitor.
An integrated map showing web visitors the services available at each location
Due to the amount of content contained within the site, we implemented a search option. We recommended a live search system (in the same way that Google now works) which provides results as the website user’s type.
Whilst optimising the website for mobile browsers may not be of major concern today, in the not too distant future Age Concern’s audience will be far more IT savvy and we decided to build for the future and to increase their ROI.
We also integrated maps for the charity shops directly in the website and re-design these pages to have more visual impact.
To maximise the functionality and appeal of the website to Age Concern’s target audience, we made a few strategic design choices:
• More spacing around headers/text/photos
• Cleaner look through the use of bright, larger, new photos
• Consistent font throughout in type and size
• Add contours on buttons/navigation bars etc to give more depth
A brighter, clearer look throughout
Age Concern’s new website promotes their services whilst complimenting the Silver Service newspaper.
