United Grand Lodge of England: website and CMS for the home of English Freemasonry

The client

The United Grand Lodge of England is the governing body of Freemasonry in England, Wales and the Channel Islands, headquartered at Freemasons' Hall on Great Queen Street in London. It oversees thousands of lodges and a membership in the hundreds of thousands, and it carries centuries of history and a degree of public curiosity that few brands do.

This was a New Brand Media engagement, with Jonathan leading the design.

The challenge

An institution this old and this private has a particular web challenge: present itself clearly and credibly to the public, support its members and lodges, and do so with a content management system the organisation could maintain itself, all while respecting the dignity and discretion the body expects.

What we did

Website and content management system design for the United Grand Lodge of England: the public website and the CMS behind it.

Our approach

Design for clarity and trust over a maintainable content platform, so a large, tradition-bound organisation could present itself well online and keep the site current without outside help.

Outcome

A website and CMS delivered for one of the most historic institutions in the country, a direct New Brand Media engagement. The organisation maintains a significant web presence to this day at ugle.org.uk.

Context & coverage

The United Grand Lodge of England was established in 1813 (its predecessor, the premier Grand Lodge, dates to 1717) and is based at the Grade II* listed Art Deco Freemasons' Hall, built as a memorial to Freemasons who died in the First World War. It governs thousands of lodges and a membership of around 170,000.

• About UGLE and United Grand Lodge of England (Wikipedia): the body, its history and Freemasons' Hall.