City & Guilds of London Art School - School Website Development for a Historic Art Institution

The Challenge

Founded in 1854, the school has built a reputation around specialist teaching, small class sizes, and a deeply hands-on approach to art, conservation, and craft. It’s a place with real heritage, but also one that continues to evolve.

The problem was that the website wasn’t telling that story particularly well.

The existing site contained a huge amount of information, but it felt static and difficult to navigate. Course information was spread across multiple areas, visual content didn’t always get the attention it deserved, and managing updates internally had become increasingly time-consuming.

For prospective students, first impressions matter.

Choosing an art school is a big decision. People want to see the work. They want to understand the courses. They want a sense of the culture before they ever book an open day.

The website needed to do more than provide information. It needed to capture the character of the school itself.

City & Guilds approached us looking for a WordPress agency in London that could help bring their vision to life while creating a platform that staff could manage independently.

The brief was clear:

Create a more visual and engaging website
Showcase student work and courses more effectively
Improve the overall user experience
Migrate content from the existing site
Give staff greater control over content updates
Strengthen the site’s SEO performance

Discovery and Technical Review

Before any development work began, we spent time understanding how different audiences used the website. Prospective students had very different needs from current students, alumni, donors, or industry partners. The challenge wasn’t a lack of content. If anything, there was too much of it.

We reviewed the existing site structure, user journeys, and content hierarchy to understand where visitors were getting stuck. A few things became obvious. Important course information often took too many clicks to find. Some pages felt text-heavy, while visual content was hidden away when it should have been leading the experience.

For an art school, that felt like a missed opportunity. The work itself needed to take centre stage.

UX and Design Research

Art schools are naturally visual places. Walk through the studios at City & Guilds and you’re surrounded by creativity. Paintings in progress. Sculpture workshops. Conservation projects. Students experimenting and refining their craft. We wanted the website to reflect that atmosphere. So rather than creating a corporate education website, we focused on creating a digital experience that felt more immersive and engaging.

We explored:

• How prospective students research art schools
• Which content drives enquiries
• How visual work could be featured more prominently
• Ways to simplify navigation without losing depth
• Mobile user behaviour across key pages

One thing kept coming up during discussions. People wanted to see the work. Not read endless paragraphs about it. That insight shaped much of the design approach.

School Website WordPress Development

After the initial discovery phase, WordPress quickly emerged as the right platform for the project. The team needed flexibility without complexity. Course information changes. News stories are published regularly. Student exhibitions come and go. The website needed to keep pace without requiring technical knowledge every time an update was needed.

We developed a custom WordPress solution that gave the City & Guilds team complete control over their content while maintaining consistency across the site.

The build included:

• Bespoke WordPress development
• Content migration from the existing website
• CiviCRM integration
• SEO-friendly architecture
• Flexible page management tools
• Media and gallery management
• Social sharing functionality

Staff can now manage pages, upload content, publish news, and update course information without needing developer support. That independence was a huge part of the project’s success.