Website for a community network: Ordim

The website for a community network is the centerpiece of the Ordim project. Ordim is the Urban Commons (Comunalitat Urbana) of Vilafranca del Penedès, in Catalonia: a network of associations, collectives and local players working for the social economy, mutual support and the shared management of resources. We designed and developed the site in-house as the hub of Ordim’s communication.

The challenge

A “commons” is a concept many people have never heard of, and a network that brings together many organizations is hard to explain. The website had to solve several things at once. It had to explain what a commons is without turning into an administrative text. It had to organize the network’s work so that any organization or neighbor could quickly find where and how to take part. And it had to keep information alive: the agenda and the news change often, and a website that goes stale is of no use to anyone.

The process

We designed the website from the identity we had created for Ordim, so identity and website read as one. We apply the same language of lines and modules, with the palette of burgundy, sage green and creamy yellow.

The content is organized into clear sections. The home page introduces the network. The “Who we are” page explains what Ordim is and what it means by commons. The page with the seven areas of work sets out the network’s lines of action in one place, so every organization knows where it fits. The page on spaces and information points locates the physical places people can visit. And the agenda and news gather what is happening in the network.

The site is explored screen by screen, with previous and next navigation, so every piece of content has its own space. This choice avoids long, confusing pages and lets a first-time visitor follow a simple path.

We also took care of the development, so we could decide both how the site looks and how it is maintained. Working design and code in a single team lets the details of the identity reach the screen intact.

The result

The result is a website that works as a meeting point for the network: it explains, organizes and invites. Organizations and neighbors can learn in a few clicks what Ordim is, which areas it works in, where the spaces are and what is going on. The site is live at ordim.cat.

For the studio, it is the natural continuation of the identity project. A name and a logotype make a network exist; a well-thought-out website gets people to take part. If you are looking for a website for a community network, or for any collective project in the Penedès, this is the kind of work we know how to do.