UINL, International Union of Notaries

The UINL website was built on a design by Marzia Bianchi. It's an important project because it's institutional and international, and the goal was to reconcile two needs that often exclude each other: the authority an organisation of this level requires, and a site that is pleasant to look at and to use.

The client

Founded in 1948 by 19 notariats, the International Union of Notaries is a non-governmental organisation promoting the notariat as a guarantor of social peace and legal certainty. Today it brings together 93 notariats in almost 120 countries, including 22 of the 27 EU member states and 15 of the G20, and works through a council, continental commissions and working groups. It organises congresses and conferences and promotes the World Notariat University. It is based in Rome.

Architecture and technologies

On WordPress I work a lot with ACF (Advanced Custom Fields), and the UINL is a good example. Every section of the site is a custom Gutenberg block with its own structured fields: content stays separate from presentation, the design doesn't depend on generic page builders and the staff build pages by choosing among blocks designed specifically for that site. It's an approach that takes more development work up front, but makes the site faster, more consistent and much easier to manage over the years.

My work

A complex institutional structure

The UINL has many sides: mission, members, institutions, regional commissions, working groups, news and events calendar. These interlinked sections had to become clear navigation, where a notary, a journalist or a citizen quickly finds what they're looking for. Marzia's design was built with attention to detail, on desktop and mobile.

The outcome

An institutional, international website that remains pleasant, far from the rigid look typical of many organisations. News and events are published from the dashboard without technical help, with blocks that keep the layout in order even when different people are writing.