JIA at NRAS

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS), is the only patient-led organisation in the UK specialising in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). NRAS came to ClarityDX seeking a new website for their core site, NRAS, as well as their sister website JIA. This case study will focus on the first part of the overall project, JIA.

The previous JIA at NRAS website was built on a platform that was at risk of becoming obsolete. In order to make the site easier for their internal team to manage and provide them with the flexibility and agility marketing and content teams need, JIA and NRAS opted to go with WordPress as their new CMS and look for a refreshed design and feel for the website while still reflecting the JIA brand.

A key challenge has always been around brand connection between JIA and NRAS. As a result JIA and NRAS were keen to improve the clarity of user journeys, and have a refreshed design to underline the positioning and link between JIA and NRAS.

Discovery & definition

To improve the clarity of user journeys, and understand how best to raise awareness and revenue through the new JIA WordPress website, ClarityDX kicked-off the discovery and definition phase with client stakeholders. We also ran a session with key persona groups present, including those living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), juvenile arthritis (JIA), their family members and medical professionals.

Alongside the information gained from the kick-off session, ClarityDX audited analytics, conducted competitor reviews, heuristics evaluations and mapped out priority user journeys and flows.

Based on the insights gathered, ClarityDX then delivered a sitemap, content map, UX wireframes, technical specification and a design style moodboard.

Design

The design team at ClarityDX began work based on the findings of the discovery & definition phase. Creating a refreshed design while working within the brand guidelines, to underline the positioning and link between JIA at NRAS. The designs are engaging and friendly, created with the young people living with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis in mind.

WordPress development

To support the strategic goals of the website, the ClarityDX development team built the JIA website as a multisite, sharing the theme with NRAS. The site also included a number of features and functionalities such as events, created as WordPress custom post types, with search enabled through postcodes, publications, a shop to enable target users to add items to their basket, as well as process payments.

Other integrations

Integration with Salesforce was a key part of the project. The new website is also integrated with content form provider, Form Assembly, as well as a mixture of GoCardless, Stripe and Asperato payment solutions to collect donations and payments.