Revitalising the BH9 Business Community: A Modern Website for a Thriving Local Network
At South Coast Design, we’ve built strong relationships over the years, many of which stem from our involvement with the Bournemouth Chamber of Commerce and its various business communities. One such community, BH9 Business Community, recently approached us to modernise their website, knowing that a fresh, strategic approach to design could significantly enhance their online presence.
As a leading website design agency in Bournemouth, we understood that this wasn’t just about aesthetics—it was about functionality, user experience, and ensuring BH9’s digital platform reflected the professionalism and vibrancy of its business members.
A Legacy Brand in Need of Modernisation
The BH9 Business Community website had served its purpose for several years, but like many older websites, it was beginning to show its age. The first thing we assessed was brand identity—their original logo, designed in 2016, followed outdated design principles.
While the original gradient colour scheme had served as it's brand association, the execution felt dated, and it lacked a modern, professional finish. Instead of completely reinventing the logo, we focused on evolution rather than revolution:
We introduced a clean, modern sans-serif font to reinforce a contemporary corporate feel.
We refined use of the original gradient but retained its essence, ensuring continuity and recognition.
We placed strong emphasis on “BH9,” making it bold and prominent to reinforce the postcode identity as a key branding element.
This approach allowed us to bring the brand into 2025 while maintaining the trust and familiarity the community had built over the years.
Homepage UX: Removing Friction, Enhancing Engagement
The original homepage suffered from poor content hierarchy, with the logo occupying over half of the hero section, forcing visitors to scroll before they could engage with key messaging. This immediately created friction in user experience.
To resolve this, we:
Moved the new logo to the navigation bar, freeing up critical above-the-fold real estate.
Designed a clean, structured hero section with a compelling main heading and sub-paragraph, ensuring visitors immediately understood the BH9 Business Community’s purpose and value.
By optimising this space, we made the site more intuitive, engaging, and conversion-friendly.
Enhancing the Featured Members Section
One of the most valuable assets of the BH9 Business Community is its network of businesses, so naturally, showcasing its members effectively was a priority.
The original featured members section used an inconsistent image carousel—logos were different sizes, some were pixelated, and the overall presentation lacked cohesion.
We implemented a refined sliding image carousel with:
Uniformly sized brand elements for consistency and professionalism.
High-resolution logo displays to ensure clarity and brand integrity.
Equal representation for all members, reinforcing the idea of a unified business community.
This simple but critical design enhancement not only improved aesthetics but also elevated the credibility and perception of the BH9 network.
Transforming the Events Page into an Interactive Hub
One of the key aspects of BH9’s role in Bournemouth’s business community is facilitating local networking events. However, their existing events page was underutilised - offering only basic text listings with no call-to-action, RSVP functionality, or interactive features.
We saw a clear opportunity to enhance event visibility, user engagement, and community participation by embedding a dynamic event management system that:
Allows administrators to effortlessly add new events.
Features a fully interactive calendar widget where users can expand event details, engage with content, and take action.
Enables visitors to bookmark events to their own calendars, ensuring higher attendance and engagement.
By shifting from static content to an interactive experience, we turned the events page into a true engagement hub, further strengthening BH9’s digital presence as a leading business community in Bournemouth.
The Results: A Website Built for 2025 and Beyond
While this was a relatively straightforward redesign, the impact was significant. Within just a few days, we took BH9’s digital presence from outdated to outstanding, ensuring their platform reflects the ambition and professionalism of the businesses they represent.
For us at South Coast Design, it’s projects like these that highlight the importance of working with a specialist website design agency in Bournemouth that understands not just design, but branding, UX, and digital engagement.
If your business or community group is in need of a website refresh, we’d love to chat. Let’s build something that doesn’t just look good - but works brilliantly.
