Background
RIBA’s digital content, products and services are among its most valuable assets. Over time, however, its digital estate had grown organically across multiple websites, platforms and teams. This resulted in fragmented user journeys, inconsistent branding, duplicated processes and increased operational complexity.
Members, students and the public found it increasingly difficult to navigate between sites, locate relevant content, or understand the full breadth of RIBA’s digital offering. Separate systems required multiple logins, information architecture varied by platform, and engagement suffered as users abandoned journeys before finding what they needed.
As a primary digital touchpoint for members and the wider architecture community, RIBA’s website plays a critical role in how audiences access content, services and support. RIBA needed a modern, integrated digital foundation that could improve usability and accessibility, simplify internal processes and support long-term strategic goals.
The project formed part of RIBA’s wider House of Architecture programme – a long-term initiative to transform its members’ offering; upgrading its digital technology and creating a vastly improved online experience, bringing together its architectural collections, and sensitive, essential refurbishment and restoration of its London home at 66 Portland Place.
Digital strategy definition began in early 2023, followed by extensive internal consultation and the approval of a detailed business case in July 2023. This identified the need to consolidate platforms, redefine user experience and establish a scalable, future-ready digital foundation.
Stakeholder scale and governance
Managing a large and diverse stakeholder group required strong structure, facilitation and clear design authority.
Audience complexity and navigation
Extensive research and iteration were needed to simplify journeys across highly diverse audiences.
Harmonising Search and Taxonomy
Reducing duplicated content between RIBA.org and RIBAJ.com, enhancing SEO posture, combining search experiences between the two sites to make journeys findable for users, and merging taxonomies between the two large sites to enable search / cross-linking content between the sites.
The delivery of RIBA.org represents Phase 1 of this programme, focused on building the core digital infrastructure on which further optimisation and innovation can be delivered.
Solution
Discovery and Design
Cantarus led a comprehensive discovery phase to refine challenges, understand audience needs and define clear delivery strategies across RIBA’s complex digital estate. This work was carried out in close collaboration with RIBA’s internal teams and alongside brand agency Johnson Banks, who developed RIBA’s refreshed visual identity.
Cantarus worked closely with Johnson Banks to translate the refreshed brand into a coherent and usable digital system across RIBA.org and RIBAJ.com. This included aligning brand principles with digital UX requirements, ensuring consistency between physical and digital expressions, and adapting the identity to support accessibility, usability and performance at scale.
Information Architecture & User Journeys
RIBA serves a highly diverse audience, including architects, students, educators, policymakers and the architecture-interested public. A key focus of Phase 1 was rationalising information architecture to reduce complexity and help users find relevant content more easily.
Through research, testing and iteration, Cantarus supported RIBA in redefining navigation and structure, creating clearer pathways across content, learning and services.
"From an information architecture and UX perspective, the new site provides much clearer structure with a lovely smooth flow across menus and pages. It gives users confidence that they can find what they need, while also supporting how the organisation wants to grow its digital services."
Content Model & Editorial Enablement
A modern, flexible content model was implemented to support the breadth and volume of RIBA’s publishing needs. Component-based layouts enable editorial teams to create varied, engaging pages while maintaining consistency and accessibility.
Platform & Delivery
Cantarus delivered a modern CMS and supporting technology stack designed to reduce operational risk and support long-term scalability.
The platform is delivered on Umbraco Cloud, and as part of the delivery, the programme included a mid-stream migration from RIBA’s previous hosting environment to Umbraco Cloud, ensuring continuity while establishing a more robust and maintainable foundation.
Impact
Early Outcomes & Signals
Internal feedback from RIBA and RIBAJ content teams has highlighted:
A clearer, more intuitive CMS interface
Drag-and-drop components and batch image uploads
Automatic image resizing, removing a significant editorial overhead
The new design has also been positively received internally as a confident digital expression of RIBA’s refreshed brand.
Phase 1 establishes the foundation for continued digital transformation. Future phases will build on this foundation to support unified user journeys, personalisation and new digital applications for learning, architecture practice search and online collections.
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content pages reviewed, updated and migrated
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migrated via automated content migration
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page views and 231,000 users in its first month
“The new RIBA websites bring together strong information architecture, clear user journeys and a lovely alignment of the new brand to our online presence. It balances form and function well, while providing a great foundation for how our digital services will continue to evolve.”
