Leap Workshops

What does a website need to do for a small training provider running free community workshops? That was the question at the heart of this project.

At the end of last year I redesigned the website for Parent Carer Forum Devon and I was delighted when they approached me again to ask if I create a new website for a project they are running with Family Voice Torbay in collaboration with Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD). Leap Workshops are a series of free workshops, delivered both online and in-person, designed to support families and professionals to better understand Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Creating the logo and branding

The importance of a logo can never be underestimated and I was very concerned that I get right. I asked the client to complete a questionnaire prior to the build week to get a better understanding of who their audience is, how they want to be perceived by that audience and any preconceived ideas they may already have about their logo and branding. The words “trustworthy” and “empowering” came up and I ran with these notions in the ideas I presented to them. It was very important to convey trust, warmth and positivity to an audience of parents who may be anxious or overwhelmed because of the challenges that SEND can bring.

The choice of colour scheme: The colour combination of blue and turquoise creates a professional, safe and calm impression but the splash of yellow makes it “pop” a little. However I have become very aware in recent months of how important it is, to use colours correctly in terms of usability and accessibility, particularly for people who are dyslexic or sight-impaired. So I ran the colour scheme through a colour contrast checker to ensure that they met the WCAG AA standards.

For the graphical element I wanted to give the impression of leaping and reaching for the stars and experimented with the idea of the curves, people jumping and letters jumping. I showed the client three different ideas and with some refinements, this is the one they chose.

With the logo designed and approved, the tone of the website was also set and the design of the home page came easily. The

Managing the project with Kitchen.co

If you’re a training provider or small business owner, your inbox is probably overflowing with emails and in my experience, it can be tricky to keep track of conversations in email threads, especially when the thread involves multiple people. Earlier this year I decided that I need to improve the way that my clients and I interact, and have just started using a client portal system called Kitchen. This portal provides a secure and user-friendly platform to access project updates, files, and other essential project-related information. The chat feature is invaluable, especially when multiple people from a client’s organisation are involved and need to provide content or give feedback. You can set up to-do lists, set milestones and everybody involved stays informed and engaged.

My client at Leap Workshops loved this portal. Everything to do with the project was in one place. No hunting around through long email threads, trying to find something that was said, or having to send content to me via several emails. In fact, they liked it so much that they decided that would start using the same portal system in-house for some of their own projects!

Integrating Eventbrite

The most important aspect of this website was the need for an easy way for people to book on to the workshops and for the client to manage the bookings. As the website is built using WordPress, I looked at various event and booking plugins and evaluated their features against the client’s requirements. The Events Calendar was coming out as the most likely plugin to use and I’ve used the free version of it on a number of different client sites.

However the Parent Carer Forum Devon were already using Eventbrite to handle the management of some other training courses and ultimately I decided that it wouldn’t be necessary to use a separate plugin which was going to cost in the region of $300 a year, when Eventbrite has all the same features… for free! As Leap Workshops don’t charge people to attend their training workshops, Eventbrite don’t charge any fees either.

I was added as a user to the Parent Carer Forum Devon account and from there I was able to set Leap Workshops up as a separate organisation within their account and add some of the initial workshop events to get them started.

Listings on Eventbrite should have individual graphical banners to enhance the listings therefore I also created artwork for each of the initial workshop events in Canva, consistent with the logo and colour scheme, so that everything looked cohesive. However rather than leaving the client dependent on me every time a new workshop is added, I set the artwork up as editable templates within their own Canva account. This means that when new workshops are confirmed, the team can create their own professional-looking event graphics independently, in minutes, without needing any design experience. Handing a client that kind of self-sufficiency feels like an important part of the job to me.

Back to the Leap Workshops site and all that was needed was to add plenty of opportunities for the user to click links or buttons which takes them straight to the Leap Workshops page on Eventbrite to book. It couldn’t be easier!

Interested in something similar?

If you’re a training provider or small charity thinking about your web presence, I’d love to have a conversation. Whether you need a full service — logo and branding, website build, third-party integrations and a smooth handover — or you’re simply not sure where to start, feel free to get in touch for an informal, no-obligation chat. Projects like Leap Workshops are exactly why I love what I do, and I’d be delighted to help you create something that truly reflects the value of the work you’re doing.