The Royal Institute of Philosophy
Project Overview
In 2025, the Royal Institute of Philosophy celebrated its 100-year anniversary by launching dedicated Centenary, Timeline, and their work so far webpages. These pages were designed to showcase rare historical materials and the institute’s journey, engaging not only academics but also members of the public and philosophy enthusiasts who are not necessarily students. Accessibility and intuitiveness were prioritised so that the content would be easily understood and enjoyed by a broad audience. The designs were created to be fully responsive and optimized for desktop, tablet, and mobile screens, ensuring a seamless experience across all devices.
The primary goal was to create webpages that honored the centenary while maintaining the institute’s established visual tone and style. Throughout the project, close collaboration with the Managing Director, graphic designers, PhD students, and developers ensured that ideas were refined, feedback was incorporated, and the final designs faithfully represented the institute’s rich history.
Challenges and Approach
​​The historical nature of the content was new to me. I took time to understand what the institute envisioned, researching its work and history to accurately translate it into a meaningful design.
To ensure consistency, I followed their established visual style and design patterns so the new pages felt like a natural extension of existing materials.
Pages were designed to meet accessibility standards, using high-contrast text, clear structure, and easy navigation for diverse users.
Throughout the design process, I sought regular feedback from stakeholders and test users.
Continuous iterations ensured designs remained intuitive while improving based on suggestions.
UX Design Flow I Used
Research & Discovery
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After understanding the content and goals, I created low-fidelity wireframes emphasising clear storytelling with a logical timeline and space for archival images and videos. I then developed interactive prototypes featuring hover effects, clickable milestones, and expandable sections, enabling stakeholders to test navigation and provide feedback before final design refinement.
Wireframing & Prototyping
Created low-fidelity wireframes to tell the story clearly, designing a logical timeline with space for archival images. Then, built interactive prototypes with clickable elements for stakeholder feedback before finalising the design.
Feedback & Iteration
Feedback sessions were held regularly with the Managing Director, PhD students, graphic designers, and developers. Each meeting included a walkthrough of updates, identification of challenges, and discussion of how certain elements could be improved.
Final Design & Development Handoff
Prepared polished design files with fully detailed specifications, including colour codes, font families, and spacing guidelines. Accessibility was embedded into the documentation.
Collaborated closely with developers during handoff to ensure that the implemented pages matched the design vision while maintaining performance standards. Final QA checks included user testing to confirm that layouts, interactions, and accessibility elements were exactly as intended before launch.
