In 1976, around a dozen local people got together to see what they could do about the problems of ‘dyslexia’. At that time, the word itself was little known or understood, and by today’s standards, its causes, implications, and remedies were almost unknown territory. The individuals involved were a mixture of teachers who were seeing the problem in the classroom, and parents, some adult dyslexics themselves, anxious to find help and understanding for their children. The Hereford and Worcester Dyslexia Association was formed, affiliated to the British Dyslexia Association and became a registered charity in 1976. They now run 3 workshops, in Worcester Hereford and Bromsgrove.
The existing website was out of date and not easy for the visitor to navigate. The admin area was difficult to use and needed to be simplified for a range of staff to be able to update content. The HWDA wanted a modern updated website which is user-friendly. It should be an easy and central way to share information with parents, children and staff:
- To provide more resources and practical support for parents and children.
- To be friendly, and attractive to parents and children.
- Information for parents and prospective parents.
- To promote the workshops and the work HWDA do, to encourage children to come on a Friday evening or Saturday morning for extra lessons!
- To link to other dyslexia friendly websites to provide further information.
- An area for website staff to add employment policies, training sessions and information for staff.
- To provide a Just Giving Link. The site should raise awareness and request donations.
I created a new logo to meet the needs of HWDA in the future. The new bespoke design is bright and colourful. The main thing is that all of the pages are easy to read for dyslexics and non-dyslexics alike. Backgrounds are soft as are the font colours. The font is a Google font called Lexend, which is created for dyslexic people but works well for everyone.
The site should be friendly and informative to both parents and children. It promotes the workshops and enables people to donate directly to the charity. There are individual sections for each workshop where tutors can add news and information as requried. The site includes a blog to enable HWDA to share news and events.
