Christian Youth Enterprises (Activity Centre): Four decades young, finally online.

Christian Youth Enterprises is an activity centre based in Chichester offering sailing, powerboating, archery, climbing, and a range of other outdoor activities. They'd built a strong reputation over decades, with schools and churches booking annual residentials alongside successful activity weekends and camps for various age groups. However, as they approached their 40th birthday, they recognised that their brand identity had stagnated over a century of incremental changes without strategic direction.

CYE wanted to reposition themselves as a progressive activity centre with Christian roots, moving beyond simply maintaining their existing reputation. The rebranding project took several months through Upshot's Identity Clarifier process, where I was involved in the early brand development work. Once the brand guidelines were established, I became project lead to translate this new identity into a digital presence that matched the quality and energy of their offering.

Whilst CYE had a functioning website, it wasn't following modern web practices and the interface felt dated. More significantly, over a decade of incremental additions had created a sprawling information architecture. New content and functionality had been added without strategic consideration for how different user groups needed to access information, making navigation increasingly difficult.

Through auditing the existing site and gathering feedback from the CYE team and their customers, I identified their diverse audience: organisations seeking team activities, parents arranging school or church residentials, and families looking for camps. Despite this variety, user intent fell into two clear categories: prospective customers wanting to explore and book activities, and existing customers seeking information about upcoming bookings. This insight became the foundation for restructuring the entire site.

Understanding these two primary user journeys shaped the information architecture. I structured the site around two clear pathways: 'Explore And Book' for prospective customers and 'What To Expect' for existing bookings. This approach ensured that regardless of user type—parent, youth leader, or activity coordinator—they could immediately identify the relevant path without navigating complex menu structures.

The visual design needed to balance multiple considerations: capturing the dynamic nature of CYE's activities, reflecting their Christian foundation, and maintaining the approachability that had sustained their reputation for forty years. I used strong activity imagery (sailing, climbing, archery) paired with the refined brand identity to create a contemporary aesthetic that felt energetic without compromising the trust and warmth their audience expected.

The project was delayed due to changes in CYE's staff team, which actually gave us the opportunity to refine the approach further. I built the site in Webflow, ensuring that the CYE team would be able to easily update content and add new activities or events without needing constant developer support. The booking pathways were designed to be intuitive, guiding users from browsing activities through to making enquiries or bookings with minimal friction.

Each activity type needed its own presentation whilst maintaining consistency across the site. I created a modular system where activity pages could showcase unique details - what to bring for sailing versus climbing, age requirements, skill levels - whilst following a familiar structure. This meant users could browse multiple activities without having to relearn how to find information on each page.

Early feedback since launch has been positive. The CYE team reports that users can locate booking information and activity details significantly more easily than before, and they're seeing increased enquiry rates through the website. The simplified navigation structure and updated visual identity have successfully repositioned them as intended—a modern, professionally-run activity centre with Christian values.

This project reinforced an important principle: effective design often involves strategic reduction rather than addition. CYE's previous website wasn't failing due to missing features—it was failing because accumulated additions had obscured essential user journeys. By focusing on the two core paths users needed to follow, we created a more effective solution than the complex site that had evolved organically. Clear information architecture and streamlined navigation delivered better outcomes than extensive feature sets.