The Royal Entomological Society website needed a fresh, new look to represent an updated, modern brand aesthetic. They also needed an extensible solution to support their growing business needs; membership subscriptions, e-commerce, donations, and both paid and free events.
For nearly 200 years, the Royal Entomological Society has led the promotion of insect science. Eminent scientists such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace were Fellows of the Society. Today, the world’s insect scientists continue to recognise its importance. Election as a Fellow is one of the most prestigious honours in entomology worldwide.
Design evolution
The journey of the RES website has been quite dramatic over the last decade. It has transformed from a highly technical, enthusiast site through to a smart, modern, highly visual site with an emphasis on promoting the organisation providing services to members.
The new brand
A bold, dark, modern brand was created by Threerooms, radically transforming the look of the organisation.
We needed to translate the brand aesthetics into website components creating a similar feel to the print-oriented branding work, without being difficult for content editors to use.
The site is an online presence worthy of the Society’s role and reputation
Some elements were more suitable than others; we found simple ways to achieve bold headers with ‘microscope’ highlight effects, and visually interesting animated gradients; representing iridescence, an entomological phenomena. The balance of light and dark was crucial so the whole site didn’t feel too dark to read in content areas, whilst allowing the bold colour palette to look vibrant on darker panels.
Building on WordPress
WordPress was chosen over other platforms as a cost-effective solution.
Several tried-and-tested plugins including WooCommerce, WooCommerce Memberships and WooCommerce Subscriptions have been used to enable core functionalities.
Member services
Members now have automated renewals and online accounts where they can see their interactions with the Society.
Members also benefit from discounts on various product and service purchases, enabled by WooCommerce Memberships.
