Designer: Samuel Berkes

Assignment: Design a website that is accessible to people in remote areas of the globe who do not have access to the latest technologies. Also, make it fresh, dynamic, and contemporary, without any glitz or graphics requiring hi-tech systems. No sweat, right?

Tackling this balancing act, designer Samuel Berkes worked to meet all the needs required by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in his redesign of its website. According to the Congregation’s director of communications, Barbara Wade, “We are a not-for-profit organization that works within modest budget limitations and any web redesign must be completed in-house. Our vision is to have a site that strikes a balance between sisters with technical limitations located throughout the world and also a technologically savvy public.”

The Congregation would also like its site to boost donations and help educate the general public on its mission and ministries, all while attracting women to vocation programs. “Holy Cross sisters practice a contemplative spirituality while being women of action,” says Wade.

To increase traffic and grow its ministry, the Congregation’s website needs a fresh look. The original site design is dated, copy heavy, compartmentalized, and difficult to navigate. Additionally, Wade would like a “headline news” section featuring changing stories.

To this end, Berkes chose top-tab navigation that remains static on each page for user ease. He suggests modern fonts (Arial for its universality and legibility) and colors (a natural, web-safe, and symbolically strong palette) to complete the contemporary transformation within the group’s technical constraints. Lastly, he added small touches to the logo to increase the natural look of the earth and vines and to provide cohesion between all pages of the site. The result is a fluid, connected website.