ClerksWell win 2024 Web Excellence Award for Accessibility

We are thrilled to announce that we have won the Web Excellence Award for Accessibility this year, with our long-term digital partner and client The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) for their homepage transformation project.

Accessibility is one of the ABPI’s key goals, and is embedded within our processes here at ClerksWell, so it is excellent to see the teams appreciated for all their hard work. Thank you to Michael Theodore and Jack Neill-Hall for their vision and commitment to accessibility, continually raising the bar in this area. Special thanks to our friends at Umbraco as well, for a wonderful CMS platform to work with.

Project Goals and Execution

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) partnered with ClerksWell to revamp their homepage, aiming to enhance accessibility and user engagement. Representing over 120 UK companies in the pharmaceutical sector, ABPI's digital presence is crucial for raising awareness and driving membership.

The project, initiated in March 2024 and completed by July 2024, focused on redesigning the homepage to meet WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards. This involved extensive research, innovative design solutions, and collaboration with accessibility consultants. Key improvements included better spacing, navigation, and information accessibility.

Innovative Solution

The redesign introduced reusable components for consistency, an overhauled news and blog section, and a human-centric design approach. Actionable changes like a smaller hero banner, a redesigned news widget, and mobile optimization were implemented to enhance user experience.

Outcomes and Impact

The project exceeded its objectives, resulting in a clean, modern, and professional homepage. The new design not only scores higher on accessibility than the industry standard but also boasts improved sustainability with a lower carbon footprint. This transformation positions ABPI to better support its members and the public, ensuring everyone can access the information they need.

This successful collaboration highlights the importance of accessibility in digital design, setting a new benchmark for industry standards.

The Web Excellence Awards

The Web Excellence Awards, also known as WE-Awards, is not just a web awards platform. It is a global community committed to promoting excellence on the web and setting high standards by recognizing digital creativity and innovation. Their mission is to raise benchmarks for creative, technical, and professional projects and websites while honouring the brilliant minds behind them.

The Web Excellence Awards are judged through a meticulous process led by top-tier professionals from diverse backgrounds. The evaluation is based on a standard of excellence, ensuring a fair assessment of multiple criteria, including:

•  Innovation and creativity
•  Functionality and usability
• Content and overall user experience
•  Visual design and aesthetics
• Technical quality and performance
• Overall experience

Each entry is assigned to several experts who assess these criteria on a ten-point scale. The judging process is transparent and non-discriminatory, with the final decisions made by the judging committee.

Click to see the full announcement here.