Stanwick lakes is a lottery funded Northampton based countryside attraction that appeals to all ages, and provides a large range of activities for those who are either the adventurous types or to those on the opposite end of the scale, seeking a more relaxed visit. The 750 acre site, which was previously home to a gravel quarry and has undergone archaeological excavations, and now features several lakes, a tranquil environment and wildlife which is settled wihin its environment. Stanwick Lakes combines both a beautiful untouched environment, alongside modern architecture in the form of a Visitor Centre, full of facilities that will give you a comfortable and pain-free visit.
Website design
Stanwick Lakes approached us with a brief for a new website design that needed to appeal to both the younger generations that visited the site with their families, but also to the bird watchers, dog walkers and other visitors seeking out a quiet and calm visit in Northampton. The website homepage features stunning photography, montages and carousels, all displaying what's on offer at Stanwick Lakes, plus the ‘things to do.’ section truly reflects the huge array of things that are on offer. A large main background image allows the user to visually get the impact of what Stanwick Lakes feels like and what to expect, almost immersing themselves into the scenery.
On the right-hand side of the homepage, the user will notice thumbnails and dates straight from the ‘What’s on’ page, that will allow them to easily see what events are happening at Stanwick and provide them access to the main events page, displaying a calendar which is dynamically linked to each event via a bespoke events module.
Stanwick Lakes has a wide-range of activities, and so it was important that we allowed the user to see all of these straight away by using the carousel gallery on the homepage. This gives the user the easy option to click through to any activity that takes their fancy, with a detailed description of each one. The user is also teased into clicking each one with an interactive thumbnail which is included within the drop down navigation. This is a huge benefit as it means the user can see instantly what that particular link is about visually by a photo led guide.
Behind the scenes of the visuals and aesthetics of the Stanwick Lakes brand lies a wordpress website structure which has been complete customised from ground up, alongside a large amount of bespoke code to give the website its functionality for the user. It is also important that the website does not stay static and must engage the user each time they access the website. Wordpress was the chosen Content Management System of choice for this project as not only does it make for an easy update environment for the client, to easily update, edit and add pages, news features, events and galleries with ease, but also provides good SEO attributes.
Website Key Functionality
- Easy to use Navigation, and sub-navigation contain the large extent of sub-pages within the website.
- Ever-changeable page content, which the client can update with ease.
- Search-box for the user to filter the large number of pages, with just one click.
- A simple and easy to use, contact box with validation, for the user to contact Stanwick Lakes directly.
- A gallery that will allow visitors to the website to access images of activities and the attractions, hopefully enticing them to visit the Northampton location.
- An Events page that gives the user the option to click-through a calendar of dates for ‘What’s on’ at Stanwick Lakes.
- Downloadable content, for the user gain access to maps, leaflets and more, they can see directly in front of them.
Web Design Tips
- Never use comic sans - ever!
- Pick a consistency of fonts and stick to it/them
- Don't use highlighted text, links or both if the combination is hard to read
- White on yellow is never allowed for highlighted text
- Flashing text should be banned in our opinion
- Don't overdo flash, especially sound which you can't turn off!
- Don't over-clutter the page so that the user can't read one message or another through the mess you've created
- Make sure you optimise your images for the web - especially now that users are using 3G more and more on their smart devices
