Discovering York: Before & After a Complete WordPress Website Redesign

Discovering York already had an established WordPress website, plenty of content and a recognisable presence online. But over time, the website had become increasingly difficult to use because of just how slowly it loaded. As a WordPress web designer, I knew the project needed to address the performance of the website as well as its appearance.

The project initially looked like a website redesign. Once I started working through the existing site, however, it became clear that simply putting a new design over what was already there wasn’t going to solve the underlying problems.

There was much more work to do underneath.

Finding out what was slowing everything down

A visually impressive website isn’t much use if somebody has to sit waiting for it to load.

One of the biggest issues with the existing Discovering York website was its imagery. There were a lot of images throughout the site, and many had been uploaded as large PNG files at file sizes far beyond what was necessary for displaying them on a website.

That wasn’t the only factor. As I worked through the site, there were multiple parts of the existing build contributing to the poor experience.

Rather than trying to hide those problems behind a new design, I wanted to deal with them properly.

A redesign that became almost a rebuild

As the project progressed, it became clear that keeping too much of the old implementation would also mean keeping too many of the problems that came with it.

So the project became much closer to a full WordPress website rebuild than a simple visual refresh.

I worked through the site, rebuilt and restructured the areas that needed it, improved the way image assets were being handled and created a cleaner foundation for the new web design. The aim was to improve both the front-end experience and the foundations supporting Discovering York’s wider online presence.

Performance was part of the redesign from the beginning, rather than something to worry about after the new website had already been built.

Then came the visual transformation

Fixing the underlying performance problems was only one side of the project.

The existing website had served Discovering York for some time, but visually it was beginning to show its age. The business had moved forward and the website needed to move forward with it.

I gave the site a much cleaner and more modern visual direction, improving the layout, typography, spacing, imagery and overall hierarchy across the website.

The aim wasn’t to redesign things simply for the sake of making them different. It was about making the site feel more considered, easier to explore and more representative of the business behind it.

Making the website easier to use

Good website design isn’t just about how a page looks. Visitors need to be able to quickly understand where they are, find what they’re looking for and move naturally through the website.

The redesign introduced a clearer visual hierarchy and gave the content more room to breathe. Important information is easier to identify and the website feels far more deliberate as a whole.

The new design was also built around a smooth experience across different screen sizes, rather than treating mobile as an afterthought.

The difference isn’t just something you can see

Before and after screenshots are great for demonstrating a visual redesign, but in this project they only tell part of the story.

The finished Discovering York website feels dramatically better to use because the experience itself has changed. Pages load much faster, moving around the website feels smoother and the design no longer has to fight against the performance problems of the previous build.

Web design built around a stronger online presence

A website redesign shouldn’t only change how a business looks online today. It should leave the business with a stronger foundation for its wider online presence and give the website room to develop as the company grows.

Discovering York remains on WordPress, so the website can continue to evolve alongside the business. Existing pages can be updated, new content can be published and the site isn’t locked into what existed on launch day.

That’s a big part of how I approach web design through Theo Ramwell Web Design. I specialise in helping businesses improve and grow their presence online, whether that means building a new WordPress website, redesigning an existing site or improving a website that is no longer doing the business justice.

I’m based near Market Drayton and primarily provide web design for businesses across Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, while also working with businesses throughout the UK. Discovering York is a good example of that wider reach: the client is based in York, but the project could be handled remotely without geography getting in the way.

WordPress is a platform I work with regularly, although the right approach always depends on the business and what it actually needs. The goal isn’t simply to put a website online. It’s to create a professional, useful part of the business’s online presence that can continue to support it as it develops.

Discovering York already had the business, the content and the identity. My job was to give all of it a faster, smoother and more professional home online.

You can see more of my website design work or explore the web design services I offer to businesses looking to improve their online presence.