The British Chapter of the Explorers Club had not had a website for a few years so as Matt was recently made a Fellow of the club we felt that we could offer our services to create a really great site for the members to engage with and get excited by the events and opportunities that the club offers.

Challenge

Working within an expected protocol for the development of chapter websites for the EC (www.explorers.org) we needed to implement a design style in keeping with the reputation and brand image of the HQ site and style but incorporate modern styling , new technologies and  a fresh look and feel. The site also has to act as a communication tool for members to generate ideas, expedition proposals and secure conversation amongst themselves. As the club has been in existence since 1904 and counts amongst it’s members some of the most famous explorers of the 20th century the image of the site had to retain it’s image as an extremely reputable organisation.

Solution

We kept the classic colour palette of the main site and freshened up the design around this. We filmed the current president, Lorie at the Travellers Club in London to give an introduction to the site and the Explorers Club in general. We introduced a Twitter feed from the main club’s account, created a LinkedIn group to generate ideas from chapter members around the world , used an Ajax script for the rotating images on the homepage and a Flash file to display the members reading the thumbnails from XML.

As well as being a showcase for the UK chapter the site also needed to act as a private communication tool amongst members so once again, as pro-developers on their network, we utilised Expression Engine, which, out of the box allows for a very powerful fully featured platform for secure communication, as well as rapid development times and multiple administrators.

Results

The site looks “awesome”. And don’t just take our word for it….

” This looks so great, I love what you have done, can you help us with NY?”

Lorie Karnath, Explorers Club President

“It’s beautiful and very user friendly,Great work here. This is a beautiful site.”

Matt Williams, Member Services Director, The Explorers Club

“I LOVE what you are doing! Awesome”

Roger “Mzungu” Moore, Texas Chapter The Explorers Club

“Awesome!”

Canada Chapter Chair, The Explorers Club

“What a brilliant website!!!It is fantastic.”

Chapter Chair Australia/ New Zealand, The Explorers Club

“The website looks terrific, I feel proud to be part of it”.

Dr. Christoph Baumer, (FI’04)

Moving forward the site will feature more member profiles, there are currently around 60 members in the UK and has the aim of increasing UK membership to around 150- 200. Hopefully the site will go some way to showcasing the club and increasing that membership.

Visit the site here