Alec French Architects is an award-winning architectural practice based in Bristol, with a highly talented team and incredible portfolio. They contacted us because they required an equally impressive website, and the obvious solution was a custom WordPress theme.
From the restoration of Bristol’s SS Great Britain to the masterplans of the neighbouring Wapping Wharf, the Alec French team focus on creativity and sustainability in the city. It was a real pleasure to design and build this website for them, including the design of various infographics and interactive features.
The homepage greets the visitor with a slideshow containing full-width images and text captions with subtle transitions. A call-to-action also invites visitors to browse current job vacancies, while a collapsible cookie consent banner provides all-important GDPR compliance. A scroll down arrow leads us to an overview of featured case studies, interactive media objects, embedded reviews and a live Twitter feed. The homepage really sets the tone for the rest of the site, encouraging visitors to delve deeper into the story of Alec French Architects.
Content features and formats
The Projects page boasts an impressive selection of featured images presented in a neat masonry layout. We designed a hover function which applies a shadow to the image, displaying the project title and category icon on mouse over or single tap. This use of images and subtle hover functionality helps to keep the layout clean and uncluttered, allowing the images to do the talking, but without compromising accessibility.
When viewing projects with a large volume of content, a slimline and semi-transparent ‘jump-to’ bar stays fixed on the page, allowing visitors to navigate without needing to scroll.
One of the most significant benefits of a custom WordPress theme is enhanced page speed, not to mention cross-browser and cross-device compatibility. So even with such a diverse array of content formats, we know visitors will get a great experience.
Bespoke web design navigation elements
We designed minimalist icons to convey the project categories, which are displayed throughout the site as interactive links. These serve as useful navigation tools to help visitors interact with the website and easily find content that’s of interest to them.
One of the great successes of this design is how we have balanced generous amounts of content with just the right amount of empty space, achieving an editorial style and layout. The result? Content that feels engaging, never boring.
