Building a clearer pathway to life-changing opportunities

Concordia supports two distinct audiences: seasonal workers and international volunteers. While both are united by a shared mission, they arrive with very different needs, motivations and journeys.

Their existing brand had grown inconsistent over time and this was reflected on their website too. The site had fragmented navigation, unclear content, and no cohesive thread connecting the two sides of the organisation. This made it harder for users to find the information they needed, and harder for Concordia to communicate the incredible impact of their work. 

The challenge wasn’t just to tidy things up, it was to find the idea at the heart of Concordia and build everything outward from there.

The answer to this challenge emerged through a stakeholder workshop and collaborative brand messaging process which landed on the bold vision of ‘life-changing opportunities’. This was an idea that resonated across the whole organisation and would shape how Concordia could talk about themselves, structure their offer, and connect their two distinct audiences under one coherent identity.

Anchored in this idea, we created audience-first narratives for both international volunteers and seasonal workers. We also developed a story pathway tool for capturing real human impact and a refreshed vision statement with genuine clarity. The visual identity took its lead from the same place, with more energy, greater flexibility, and a system confident enough to serve two audiences while staying recognisably Concordia. The information architecture of the site naturally followed suit, with distinct user pathways that reflected the different journeys people take to reach a life-changing opportunity, rather than asking both audiences to navigate the same route.

With the messaging foundations in place, we turned to the identity. The existing brand lacked the flexibility and consistency it needed.

So, our focus was on developing their existing volunteering campaign identity into becoming the core Concordia identity, while defining an approach for how it can flex to serve the two distinct audiences. To do this, we redrew the logo for better legibility, modernised the typography, refined the colour palette and introduced new graphical elements that gave the brand more energy and range. We set clear application rules across to create a unified visual system, while allowing each audience pillar to breathe with its own visual distinction.

The new website needed to serve both audiences equally. For seasonal workers – often on older mobile devices with limited connectivity – accessibility and simplicity were non-negotiable. For international volunteers – a more immersive, exploratory experience was expected.

We restructured the information architecture around distinct audience pathways which we validated through tree testing so we could observe how users moved through content. A clear gateway page directed users into dedicated areas of the website, each with its own navigation. The content structure and functionality was also tailored to the needs of its audience. We built the site in WordPress with a modular content system that gives the Concordia team genuine flexibility day-to-day. Analytics and Microsoft Clarity insights will also continue to shape the platform’s evolution, while keeping accessibility and usability central throughout.

The result is a platform that finally reflects the organisation it represents, making it easier for people to discover, engage with, their own life-changing opportunities.