Making Music is the UK’s leading membership organisation supporting leisure-time music groups and the people who make them thrive.
The Challenge
Making Music approached Compuco with a clear vision: to transform their website’s user experience while maintaining their established branding and integrating seamlessly with their existing CRM system.
Their goals centred on improving usability, engagement, and the overall member experience. Key objectives included:
- Improving navigation and signposting to make it easier for users to find relevant information and discover new resources.
- Enhancing the search experience, especially within resource libraries.
- Streamlining the joining journey to encourage new memberships.
- Introducing more dynamic, visually rich content, such as images, charts, and videos.
- Optimising mobile performance to ensure a smooth experience across all devices.
- Creating distinct user journeys tailored to different audiences – from potential members and professional artists to existing member groups.
- Developing flexible member logins with varying access levels and collaborative features.
Integrating new features like a members directory, skills-sharing hub, and a database of recommended artists, all connected to Making Music’s CRM (CiviCRM).
In short, the challenge was to modernise a complex, content-rich website into a flexible, community-driven platform without disrupting the tools and systems that Making Music already relied on.
The Solution
Compuco collaborated closely with the Making Music team to design and deliver a website that was not just a refresh, but a strategic evolution.
User-Centred Design
Through a series of workshops and UX reviews, we mapped the needs of Making Music’s different audiences from curious visitors to engaged members. This informed a redesigned homepage that presents clear, personalised pathways for:
- New members joining the community
- Existing members accessing resources and opportunities
- Visitors exploring campaigns, news, or finding groups and artists
Smarter Navigation and Search
We restructured the site’s information architecture to improve wayfinding, creating a simpler, more intuitive navigation and enhanced search functionality that helps users locate information quickly particularly within the vast resources section.
Modern Content Experience
We introduced flexible, component-based templates allowing Making Music’s team to mix text with images, charts, and video, giving content creators the freedom to design more engaging pages without developer input.
Enhanced Member Experience
We developed a multi-level login system within the member area, enabling admins, group leaders, and members to access tailored dashboards and tools.
This included:
- A private Members Directory linked to CiviCRM
- A Skills Sharing & Collaboration hub for peer-to-peer learning
- Integration with a Recommended Artists database, allowing artists to manage their own profiles and listings
Optimised for Mobile and Accessibility
The new design prioritises mobile usability, ensuring fluid page flow and consistency across all screen sizes. Accessibility and performance improvements (such as optimised images and reduced homepage load) make the site faster and more inclusive.
Dynamic, Up-to-Date Content
We refreshed the homepage to highlight current activities, campaigns, and news with options for social media feeds, blog integration, and a ‘What’s New This Week’ banner, keeping the community informed and engaged.
The Outcome
The new Making Music website provides a seamless, engaging experience that reflects the organisation’s mission to connect, inspire, and support the music-making community.
- Navigation is clearer and more intuitive, helping users quickly find what they need.
- The joining journey is smoother, driving higher conversion rates for new memberships.
- Members now enjoy a personalised digital hub where collaboration and information sharing come naturally.
Editors can create richer, more dynamic content with ease.
The website integrates tightly with CiviCRM, maintaining a single source of truth for member data.
Ultimately, the project delivered a modern, flexible digital platform that empowers Making Music to serve its members better and to continue championing community music across the UK.
