A Drupal site can look dated while everything underneath it still works: the content types fit, editors know the admin, and search engines know the addresses. In that case the expensive part does not need replacing. We redesign the interface and rebuild the Drupal theme that renders it: new templates and a new component library against the same content, so editors keep working as they do and every address keeps answering. For SPREP, we redesigned the interface of sprep.org and rebuilt its Drupal theme in 2017, and again in 2024.
Who this is for
- The interface has dated. The site still does its job, but it looks like another decade and works poorly on a phone.
- The organisation has a new identity. A rebrand the website has to carry, without a new platform project behind it.
- Content has become hard to find. The archive grew and the navigation did not, so readers search because they cannot browse.
- Editors are fine, readers are not. The admin side works, and nobody wants to retrain the people who publish every day.
- An agency with a client on Drupal. A new look for a client's site, designed by you or by us, built into the theme under your name through white-label development.
What you get
- An inventory of the templates and components the site uses, agreed before design starts
- A design system: components, tokens and every state, designed against your real content
- A new Drupal theme in your repository, built from that system
- Navigation and listings reworked so a large archive can be browsed, not only searched
- A crawl of the live site matched against the new theme, so every address still answers
- Editing screens left as they are, except where a new component needs a field
Sample Redesign sign-off Checked on staging before the new theme goes live
Templates
- Every content type renders in the new theme
- Longest real titles tested on each template Taken from the live database
- Empty, error and loading states designed
Addresses
- Crawl of the live site matched against staging
- No address returns an error Or a redirect is agreed for it
- Titles, descriptions and structured data carried over
Editors
- Editing forms unchanged, or each change listed
- New components documented for editors
- Old theme removed from the repository
An engineer reads it and replies within one business day.
How the work runs
A redesign follows the same order as a build, starting from the site you already run rather than an empty repository. The process is written up in full in how a project with us runs.
How a redesign runs
- Discovery The templates, components and content the site has, and where it is failing. Output: the template inventory
- Prototype The key templates redesigned on your real content, at no charge. Output: the prototype
- Fixed price Priced against the agreed list of templates and components. You keep the scope
- Build The new theme built on a staging copy of the live site. You keep the repository
- Acceptance Every template and every address checked before the switch. You keep the sign-off checklist
- Warranty Defects in what we built are ours to fix, one year by default and up to three. You keep the handover pack
Redesign or rebuild
A new interface does not always need a new platform, and this is the first thing we check. The content model decides it. If the fields exist and content is stored as structured data, the front end can be replaced on its own. When the trouble is structural, a new theme would only repaint it.
| What we look at | Redesign | Rebuild |
|---|---|---|
| Content model | Sound: the fields exist and content is stored as data | Fields missing, content pasted in as markup, one type doing the work of several |
| Addresses | Stay as they are | Mapped and redirected |
| Editors | Keep the admin they know | Learn a new one |
| Drupal version | Drupal 10 or 11 | Drupal 7, or another CMS |
| Where it goes next | This page | Migration or a new build |
Which column a site belongs in is settled in discovery, before a price is given. The interface work itself, from wireframes to the design system, is described on UI/UX design; this page is about applying it to a Drupal site that is already running.
Information architecture for a large archive
SPREP's reasons for its redesign were an interface that had dated, a new visual identity, and a body of content that had become hard to find. The last was the deeper problem: SPREP publishes news under each programme, publications, project records, events, circulars, tenders and meeting documents, all at once. The 2024 design answers it with structure. The main navigation is grouped under About Us, Our Work, Resources and News, and the same programme names recur in the navigation, the news categories and the project tags, so content can be reached by programme, by type or by search.
In both rounds we redesigned the interface and rebuilt the Drupal theme that renders it, and after launch we stayed on to maintain the site.
One design across related sites
A redesign done as a design system can be reused. After the sprep.org redesign, SPREP gave us further sites, and some were developed from the sprep.org base: PRISMSS, the Pacific NbS Resource Hub and Fagogo, SPREP's staff intranet. PRISMSS uses the same news categories as sprep.org, links back to SPREP from its header, and serves its region in English and French.
Starting from the same base did not make the sites identical: each has its own content, sections and audience. What carried across was the base and the SPREP identity. When related sites are part of the plan, the design system is drawn with them in mind from the start; how such sites then run together is covered on Drupal multisite and site families.
What it costs
The work is counted in templates and components, not in pages: a site of many pages built from a handful of templates is a modest redesign. We agree the list in discovery and fix the price against it.
The tier follows the site you already run, from Small for a corporate site built on reusable content types to Large for a platform with search and staged approval; the tiers are described on the pricing page. Maintenance after launch is priced separately under maintenance and support.
Work we have delivered
The full case studies behind the screenshots on this page.
Terms that hold
These terms hold across our services; where a service starts differently, its page says how. The full wording is on the warranty page and in why you own the source code.
- A prototype before you sign a build Before a build project is signed, we build a prototype at no charge: a design, a clickable prototype or a working demo on real code, so you decide against something real.
- You receive the system and its source code Custom work is yours from the first commit: the repository, custom modules, theme and deployment configuration. When we build your system on one of our platforms, you receive the whole system and its source code as well.
- A warranty on development work Development projects carry a 1-year warranty by default, up to 3 years. It covers defects in what we built, and applying the security releases of Drupal core and contributed modules while the warranty runs. Maintenance picks up where the warranty leaves off.
- Response targets we publish A first response in 4 hours for critical issues, 1 business day for high priority and 3 business days for normal. Support runs in business hours; cover outside them is an option, priced separately.
Questions we get asked
Will our addresses and search rankings survive the redesign?
The addresses do not move, because the content and its paths stay where they are, and we check that with a crawl of the live site matched against staging before the switch. Rankings depend on more than addresses, so titles, descriptions and structured data are carried over as well, and checked again after launch.
Do our editors need to learn a new admin?
No. A redesign changes what visitors see, not the editing screens. Where a new component needs a field that does not exist yet, the change is listed in the scope and shown to editors before launch.
Can the redesign happen on our current Drupal version?
On Drupal 10 or 11, yes. Security support for Drupal 10 ends on 9 December 2026, so a Drupal 10 site is usually better moved to 11 in the same project, and the upgrade is quoted alongside. A Drupal 7 site cannot take a new theme without moving first: that is a migration.
Can you build a design that another agency or our own designer made?
Yes. We build the theme from Figma files or a design system handed to us, and raise the gaps early: states the design does not show, content longer than the mockup, components that behave differently on a phone. If you have no designer, the design is part of the work.
What happens to content pasted in with old formatting?
It is found in discovery: inline styles, tables used for layout, markup copied from word processors. Small amounts are cleaned during the build. Large amounts are listed with a recommendation, because cleaning them is content work rather than theme work, and you should decide whether it is worth paying for.
Does the live site stop changing while the new design is built?
No. Editors keep publishing on the live site. The new theme is built against a copy of the live content, refreshed during the build, and the switch is a release like any other, rehearsed on staging first.
Not covered here? Ask us directly.
Send us the current siteAn engineer reads it and replies within one business day.
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- Drupal Module Development and Porting
- UI/UX Design for Web Platforms
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- Outsource Drupal Development
Send us the site you want to redesign
Send the address and say what is not working: the look, the navigation, or what editors struggle with. We will tell you whether a redesign is enough or the content model needs work first.
An engineer reads it and replies within one business day.