British Birds

The Brief

British Birds is a journal for everyone interested in the birds of the Western Palearctic. It has been published since 1907 and is regarded as the British birdwatcher’s journal of record. The journal aims to interpret scientific research in an easily accessible way.

Southmedia and BB have been working together for over a decade. The most recent project that we were asked to undertake with them was a ground-up redevelopment of their website, incorporating an API for mobile apps and a whole new user interface to improve the structure, searching and readability of over 100 years of journal articles.

What was the process?

We proposed building a new website for BB using Drupal and Drupal Commerce. We would create a website that:

• Followed strictly laid out user interface and brand guidelines
• Made it easy to find, browse and read journal articles
• Encouraged new and returning users to subscribe to an improved digital offering
• Managed digital subscriptions and payments
• Worked well across different devices

Our Approach

We worked with British Birds to create a new visual identity for the website, drawing on existing branding to create a distinct look and feel, crafting template designs and a style guide for the new user interface.

As part of the new website build we processed over 10,000 journal articles, tidying up broken HTML and providing up-to-date metadata to enhance the website search features.

We adapted a PDF reader plugin so that subscribers would be able to read articles either as pages on the website, or if they prefer as they would find them in the print edition of the journal.

Using Drupal Commerce, we built a subscription system that allowed for a variety of different subscription rates and models, including a bespoke direct debit gateway.