It's a lot to stage manage

Understanding the digital challenges

The old Actors' Benevolent Fund website had served the charity for many years, but it was no longer fit for purpose. Research conducted during the brand phase had revealed some fundamental problems. Awareness of the organisation was worryingly low, with over half of survey respondents having never heard of them. Even those who had heard of the ABF often didn't understand what they did or how they could help.

The website itself was contributing to these problems. It was plain, dated, and difficult to navigate. More critically, it was failing to speak to younger audiences who might be struggling with mental health, financial pressures, or the realities of freelance life in the performing arts. The messaging focused heavily on illness, injury, and old age – leaving many potential beneficiaries to qualify themselves out before they'd even explored what support was available.

IE's research presentation identified three major website challenges:

Failing to meet the needs of the many. The homepage and site content prioritised multiple audiences without clear hierarchy, making it unclear who the site was really for. Many simply didn't see themselves reflected in the messaging.

Failing to bring content to life. The site relied on static text and lacked the dynamic, engaging experience needed to connect with a modern audience. There were no compelling user journeys, limited imagery, and none of the intuitive interactive patterns that make self-service easy.

Failing to provide clear navigation. Information was scattered across the site with no coherent structure. Users faced unintuitive split navigation, assumptions about their level of knowledge, and information presented in overwhelming chunks rather than clear, progressive steps.

Following the brand work, IE led a comprehensive digital discovery process. Working with the Actors' Trust team and trustees, we held internal workshops to understand website objectives, define key audiences, map out their needs and pain points, and identify critical user journeys. We also reviewed existing statistics, membership research, and feedback from beneficiaries to build a complete picture of what the new website needed to achieve.

Designing a user-led website experience

Based on our discovery work, IE created a detailed project charter that documented scope, defined success metrics, and established guiding principles. We then developed comprehensive user journeys for the website's primary audiences – beneficiaries, members, donors, and supporters – mapping out the key questions they would arrive with and designing clear pathways to answers.

Understanding that beneficiaries often arrive at the website in a state of crisis, with significant cognitive load, we knew the journey to support needed to be as simple and reassuring as possible. We designed experiences that would:

Answer the most pressing questions immediately. Am I eligible? How do I apply? What kind of help is available? How long does it take?

Speak directly to diverse need states. Not just traditional categories of illness, injury, and age. This meant creating clear pathways for support around finances, mental health and wellbeing, physical and voice health, career and development, and community and relationships.

Reduce friction in the application process. By making it clear, progressive, and supportive – addressing anxieties about privacy and the shame that can come with asking for help.

Working to the mantra 'how simple can we make it?', we created a streamlined information architecture that cut through the complexity. The new structure organised content around what users wanted to achieve rather than how the organisation was structured internally. We designed a taxonomy system that would allow content to be tagged by audience, area of work, topic, and type – enabling powerful search, filtering, and related content recommendations.

For the membership experience, we recommended creating a dedicated member portal that would provide exclusive access to resources, events, and community features. This would help shift the perception of membership from simply a way to support the charity to a valuable offering in its own right.

A huge thank you for your guidance, support and roll out of Actors’ Trust. Especially to your wider team, Josie is such a talent and Sophie has been incredibly helpful in supporting the launch of the new website. Please do pass on our thanks to everyone involved.

Imogen Irving, Marketing & Engagement Manager

Building a website fit for the future

With user journeys and information architecture signed off, IE's design team set to work translating the fresh Actors' Trust brand identity into a beautifully crafted digital experience. We created interactive visual design prototypes in Figma, showcasing key page templates, navigation patterns, and the full user journey from landing on the homepage through to applying for support or becoming a member.

The visual design brought the brand to life with:

• The distinctive Actors' Trust logo and identity assets used across the site.
• Real photography of actors and stage managers, personalising the brand and creating an emotional connection with users.
• The vibrant colour palette from the brand guidelines, with powder blue as the primary colour complemented by supporting accent colours.
• Playful 'wrylies' (scene description tags) in the Courier New typewriter font – a creative nod to stage and screen plays.
• Clear typographic hierarchy using brand fonts, ensuring excellent readability and accessibility.

Once designs were approved, IE's development team built the site in WordPress, chosen for its flexibility, ease of use, and extensive plugin ecosystem. The build included:

Custom post types and taxonomies for events, podcasts, resources, case studies, and team members, all integrated with the global taxonomy system to enable sophisticated filtering and search.

API integration with Beacon CRM to handle membership applications, friend sign-ups, beneficiary enquiries, and donation processing. Forms submit directly to Beacon, with automated email confirmations sent to applicants.

Payment integration with Stripe, supporting membership fees, friend donations, and general giving.

A private member area with login functionality, exclusive member-only content, and the ability for members to bookmark posts and access privileged resources, news, and events.

Enhanced search and filtering allowing users to find information and resources by area of work, topic, content type, and audience – making self-service intuitive and efficient.

Responsive, mobile-first design ensuring the site works beautifully on all devices, recognising that many users would access the site on their phones.

Full accessibility compliance with an integrated accessibility widget and adherence to WCAG guidelines throughout.

Throughout the build phase, IE worked closely with Dot to Dot Digital, Actors' Trust's Beacon CRM implementation partner, to ensure seamless integration between the website and back-office systems. We also coordinated with Actors' Trust staff to migrate and populate content, set up redirects from the old site, and ensure SEO best practices were maintained.

Finally, we provided copywriting services to make sure every word on the website lived up to the new brand messaging guidance we’d delivered.