A Craft CMS 4 site with excellent search and filter functions
This site combines sharp and striking design with great functionality to deliver a unique user experience.
177
different acts uploaded to the site
7
optional bespoke search categories
+79 million
possible search/filter combinations
Background
Our design and development team have worked hard with Gecko Live to create a brand new website built on Craft CMS 4. It’s sleek and simplistic, yet capable of storing a huge amount of content.
Gecko Live is an agency that organises and provides live entertainment for weddings and corporate events. Although primarily based in the south of the country, they have experience working with acts and at venues throughout the UK.
Having started as live musicians, the team had a huge amount of expertise. However, they had diversified their offering over time to include organising and providing a broader range of event entertainment. Owner, Matt, approached us wanting a new and improved website to reflect this.
Building on existing partnerships
We had previously built the team a site in Craft CMS for their band so Gecko already had a great understanding of its functionality. This existing relationship with Matt and the team meant that we knew their personalities, tastes and how they might like to present themselves as an organisation.
Gecko wanted a site that had excellent search and filter functions that would enable visitors to select the ideal entertainment for their event - and they have a huge number of varied acts to choose from which also meant a lot of content. With such a vast number of live-entertainment acts on offer, the original website was cluttered in its appearance and difficult to navigate. Matt wanted this sorting as a priority so that his website would offer an improved user experience and help him stand out from his competitors. But it was equally important that we created something that excited and engaged his audience.
User-friendly filtering and a streamlined process
We created a filter system using the Sprig plugin. This makes sorting through the huge amount of information much easier as users can filter by act, genre, event, location, venue, date etc. to shortlist the best acts for them. The result is a better user experience, allowing users to select as many filters as they want without having to reload the page and saving them a significant amount of time.
We also created an ‘Add to my list’ function, using Apline JS plugin. This allows users to select as many bands as they are interested in and submit them as one enquiry rather than several different enquiries. The result is a much more streamlined process for the user and Gecko - who will see a breakdown of the client's needs in one single enquiry without having to work through a backlog of individual enquiry forms, piecing information together.
Web design that speaks volumes
From a design perspective, our main focus was on achieving a professional yet bespoke look across the site. Gecko wanted something that would excite customers and give them a snapshot of the amount of entertainment on offer. We worked collaboratively with Gecko to reshape their brand.
The homepage needed to work hard, immediately conveying the bespoke nature of the service Gecko could offer along with the wide range of acts and venues available. We achieved this by embedding video content in the hero of the page which displayed a snapshot of a variety of acts. We also included a sliding banner listing the wide range of music genres and events to choose from which helped add another dynamic element to the page.
Bespoke, engaging and memorable icon set...
We designed new icons, unique to the brand and dispersed them across the website. These icons go hand-in-hand with engaging content and essentially help in making the user experience more interesting and memorable.
Creative Director
Copy tailored to your target audience
As the website is seeking to attract wedding planners and corporate event organisers, we agreed that channelling these customers through bespoke pages was the best way forward in making the site compelling. Collaboratively with Gecko, we worked through an expansive range of colour palettes to find the perfect colour scheme for the brand. We then adapted the palette to reflect the type of user the page was likely to be consumed by, from the list of varying customer personas we had drawn up during our website discovery session.
For wedding clients, we agreed that having pages with a softer appearance was well-suited to speaking to their needs. Whilst the corporate event pages maintained the same look and feel of the site, the colours and layout are bold in their design. This customisation across the pages is done with the hope that regardless of whether a user is looking for entertainment for a wedding or corporate event, they are likely to feel assured that they have found the right site for them that speaks to their needs.
We build websites to succeed and believe a huge part of this is well-written, captivating copy. Effective copy not only has the power to get the website in front of the right audience but is also capable of keeping users engaged once there. This is why we work hard to get it right.
For Gecko’s new site, we significantly increased the amount of copy, included a lot more relevant keywords and gave their SEO a boost. This both increased the credibility of the site and positioned Gecko as experts and problem solvers.
For the individual Wedding and Corporate pages, we adapted the content to suit the target audience. For the wedding page, the copy included search-friendly questions and reassurance that they were in the hands of professionals who could tick a lot of boxes and take the stress out of a busy day.
For corporate users, we focused on how choosing the right entertainment packages could positively reflect their brand and help them achieve their strategic goals. We also placed emphasis on their vast experience and professionalism. And we made it clear that Gecko had experience and an understanding of the legislative and legal requirements of event management.
Each page has a clear call to action which gives the user the opportunity to seek out further information as well as clearly signposting how to get in touch with the team.
It's been great working with the webdna team again. I'm thrilled with the work they've done and our site now reflects who we are as a business, our work ethic and our values.
Owner of Gecko Live
Gecko Live needed their new site to work extremely hard for them. It had to convey that they were capable of offering a bespoke entertainment service and could arrange everything from a show band to a magician to games. It also needed to persuade a range of decision-makers from corporate buyers to engaged couples and party organisers.
But underpinning all of this, it needed to be able to handle and filter a significant amount of information to shortlist the ideal entertainment for the user, convincing them that Gecko Live were the right team for their event. Craft CMS was the perfect content management to help us achieve these objectives and the results really do speak for themselves.
If you feel as though your business could benefit from either our web development, design and marketing solutions, feel free to get in touch and let's start a conversation.
