Leicester Council
A theatre website built around events and ticket booking
A bespoke WordPress website for Leicester Haymarket Theatre, helping audiences explore what’s on and move easily from browsing to booking.
Theatre website and booking journeys
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Bringing a theatre’s digital presence to life
Leicester Haymarket Theatre needed a website that simply didn’t exist.
Before the project, audiences were directed straight to an external booking system, with no central place to explore events, understand what was on or find out more about the venue itself.
The theatre team also had limited space to promote seasonal activity or present shows effectively. The new site had to provide a clear starting point for audiences while giving the team a more practical platform for day-to-day updates and future activities.
Supporting event discovery and booking journeys
Beyond introducing the venue, the site had to support how people explore events and move towards booking.
Users needed a quick way to find events, browse listings and understand key details before moving to the external booking system.
At the same time, the council team required a flexible CMS that allowed them to manage events, update content and promote activity without relying on developers.
Our approach
We created a website that puts events at the centre of the experience and keeps the route to booking clear.
Working closely with the Leicester City Council team, we created an engaging experience focused on how audiences browse, compare, and choose events. The structure gives people simple routes into the programme, while the CMS gives the team a practical way to manage updates, landing pages and promotional content.
Accessibility, usability and performance guided the work throughout, helping the site stay clear, responsive and easy to use across devices.
Clear user journeys
The journey is deliberately simple. Audiences can see what’s on, explore individual shows and find key information before continuing to the ticketing platform.
Navigation, layout and filtering help people move through the programme without unnecessary steps, keeping the experience focused and easy to follow.
Design that puts events first
The design builds on the theatre’s existing identity, using a simple monochrome base so show artwork and event imagery can do more of the work.
We also extended the visual language with a set of custom icons inspired by the existing logo, along with a small supporting colour palette to emphasise key areas without overpowering the programme content.
Small interactions help people focus on individual shows. For example, hover states can bring one event forward while softening the surrounding content, while timed alerts and messaging help the team promote selected events.
Flexible content management
A bespoke Gutenberg editor provides a visual, block-based approach to content creation.
With the editor, the team can create landing pages for seasonal promotions, reuse content across the site and manage updates without switching between the CMS and front end.
Reusable components and patterns help maintain consistency while reducing the effort required to manage content.
Accessibility and performance
Accessibility stayed central throughout the design and build process, helping the website work well for a wide range of visitors.
Performance and responsiveness stayed central to the build, helping the site feel fast and reliable across devices, particularly on mobile.
Outcomes and impact
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