We work 3–5 times faster with our new website

Our new website is incredibly easy to use – and it performs really well.

Torben Sloth, digital consultant at the Danish Association of Occupational Therapists

From Sitecore to Umbraco

“Our old website was built on Sitecore and really wasn’t any good,” says Torben Sloth, Digital Consultant at the Danish Association of Occupational Therapists. “It was impossible to navigate – both for our users and for us as editors. So there was absolutely no doubt that we needed something new.”

The organisation therefore decided to move away from Sitecore CMS. They weren’t sure what to switch to, but they’d had a bit of a look at Umbraco, which they’d heard good things about. And when they discovered that Illumi works with both Sitecore and Umbraco, it made perfect sense to start a collaboration with us.

“Illumi quickly outlined a path out of Sitecore and into Umbraco, and it seemed like a good way forward,” explains Torben Sloth, who was particularly impressed by the fact that Umbraco – unlike Sitecore – is licence-free. And with a Sitecore renewal fast approaching, there was a strong need to move quickly.

New information architecture, new design, new platform

“It was a huge task,” says Torben Sloth. “We had an enormous amount of information that needed to be structured so users could navigate it intuitively. And then we had a design that I wouldn’t even call a design. That needed a complete overhaul as well, alongside the platform migration."

Fortunately, we at Illumi had extensive experience with similar projects, which was clearly reflected in the process, he explains: “It has genuinely felt smooth. Deadlines were met, and there were very few revisions to the work delivered.”

Experience with member portals made collaboration easier

One of the factors that made the process smoother was Illumi’s prior experience with the underlying Membercare platform, which handles all membership administration, course registration, and related services. Although courses are presented on the organisation’s website, the actual registration takes place in Membercare.

To ensure a seamless user experience, the integration between the website and Membercare was designed so that users do not experience them as two separate systems.

“The integration with Membercare is important because when our users log in to our website, they are actually logging in to Membercare. However, we have chosen to take a fairly straightforward approach to the entire web project. We didn’t want to build something we might only use once in the future. Our members need to be able to log in; they need to be able to sign up for courses and find content they can’t access without logging in. We’ve really streamlined things and focused on making the experience seamless.”

“The only ‘experiment’ we introduced was a soft login, where users can access selected premium content even if they are not members – provided they leave their email address and agree to receive our newsletter. This has allowed us to integrate lead generation into the website.”

Design uplift from scratch to today

As mentioned, the web design needed a complete uplift – both visually and technically. Based on a new colour palette and typography, Illumi developed a new web design with a well-structured information architecture, UX and graphical user interface.

More breathing space was introduced into the layout, and the UI design was carefully crafted to support different types of content and features. The result is a website that feels welcoming, modern, and informative.

Illumi very quickly presented something that matched our expectations. We essentially started from scratch, but they reshuffled everything and brought us firmly into the present.

Torben Sloth, digital consultant at the Danish Association of Occupational Therapists

Significantly improved editorial experience and performance

Torben Sloth is also very pleased with the editorial experience, particularly when compared with the Danish Association of Occupational Therapists’ previous website: “Our new solution is incredibly easy to work in. I’d say we can upload content 3–5 times faster than before. It’s very easy to build new pages and create cross-references, which connects our content across the site. This gives users a much better overall experience.”

“What’s more, the system performs exceptionally well,” states Torben Sloth. “There are no long loading times, and when we publish new content, it goes live straight away.”

When asked what the Danish Association of Occupational Therapists is most pleased with regarding their new website, Torben Sloth has to think for a moment:

It’s hard to single out one thing as the best. It’s a website that’s aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate and works really well. But I’m also very happy with the collaboration – it went like clockwork. We had the tightest deadline, but there were no hiccups along the way. And I’m really excited about working in Umbraco.

Torben Sloth, digital consultant at the Danish Association of Occupational Therapists