Inspired design: Best Catholic websites of 2020

Dec 18, 2020 by

Diane Kern

Beautiful Catholic websites that offer an inspiration of purposeful design.

As our Advent wreaths become a little brighter over these weeks, the eCatholic team starts thinking back to the very beginning of the year, remembering the new websites we celebrated along the way. These organizations and clients took a brave step to rethink, transform, and go live with a sparkling new site to serve their flock.

It's fair to say that this is the year when websites became the most crucial for communicating necessary information, as we faced uncharted waters and took ministry, schooling, and Masses online. We were honored to be there to support all of our clients, including those who joined the eCatholic family in the thick of it. Not only did you impress us with your grit and determination, but you also inspired us with your creativity and unwavering faith.

So in a year no one ever expected, here they are ...the websites that came to our minds as some of the ones that really hit the mark to be celebrated as a top website of 2020.

Best Catholic school websites

More and more Catholic schools are creating incredible online experiences for both current and prospective families. These sites are certainly at the top of the pack.

Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Newark

Office of the Superintendent of Schools - catholicschoolsnj.org

What we love: Inspired design

The story behind the website for Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Newark is perfect. After wrapping up a bold and optimally functional school website concept, the diocesan office decided to use that very template as a building block for reimagining their own site. Thus, they created a beautiful website perfectly balanced with their branding and stunning photography. Rounded edges of images, menus, and buttons, compose an elegant presentation mixed with a clean modern font style.

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St. Anne Catholic School

Houston, Texas - stannecs.org

What we love: Utilization of space and content

St. Anne Catholic School’s new website takes a good look at the relationship between space and content. The separation of sections, images, and even buttons creates clear focal points and strong attention-to-detail for the most important facts. Interior page content is framed between large vibrant header images and three buttons above the footer region which invite guests to visit and apply. Allowing more space, rather than filling every inch, is calming and inviting to guests.

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Best Catholic parish websites

These parish custom website designs really knocked our socks off this year! Here are our team's picks for best Catholic parish websites of 2020.
 

St. Therese Little Flower Catholic Church

South Bend, Indiana - littleflowerchurch.org

What we love: One-of-a-kind style and inspiration

Here is a parish site with a one-of-a-kind experience. Beginning with the parish’s brand and logo, the entire website carries a simplistic and elegant design throughout every page and detail. Various section illustrations of flowers, along with earth tones and natural imagery, contribute to that delicate little flower message. Even the menu and page titles were carefully selected to offer a thoughtful invitation to online visitors and guests.

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Basilica of St. Louis, King of France

St. Louis, Misouri - oldcathedralstl.org

What we love: A truly recreated environment

Good websites are a reflection of an organization, its brand, and story. The Basilica of Saint Louis’ new custom website both tells the story of this historic church, as well as creates an experience similar to walking through the actual front doors. The selection of site colors, background patterns, and imagery were as if pulled from the exact interiors of the church. Even the font styles add an elegant detailing that bring all the pieces together.

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Best Catholic diocesan websites

Working with diocesan teams to pull off major website makeovers is fun and inspiring for all. This year produced more great solutions and unique approaches to design.

Diocese of Metuchen

Piscataway, New Jersey - diometuchen.org

What we love: Vibrant style with boldness and clarity

The Diocese of Metuchen hit the nail on the head with a stunning website chock-full of content while leaving behind overwhelming navigation. Notice the variations and bold use of illustration and image homepage buttons which help separate content. Their approach to no drop-down menus allows them to create site navigation that walks visitors to where they need to go page-by-page. Be sure to return to this site throughout the year, because their homepage feature region images are always sharp and on point.

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Diocese of Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge, Louisiana - diobr.org

What we love: Prioritization through style

The Diocese of Baton Rouge created a website with refreshing style and well-defined sections for communicating the most important or sought-after information. A headline bar underneath the homepage feature region displays the most necessary information for their flock. Then, the order and layout of each section clearly introduces content for their most-visited pages. Add in the use of branding colors and large section titles and you have an engaging and resourceful site.

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Best Catholic ministry & organization websites

Catholic ministries have a beautiful and important role in the Church. These ministries have built websites that allow their message to shine.

St. Paul's Newman Center

North Dakota State Univeristy - bisoncatholic.org

What we love: Design reflective of spirited organization

North Dakota State University’s St. Paul Newman Center crafted a website that is, without a doubt, fun! The site utilizes a unique style full of carefully selected fonts, background angles, section spacing, and school colors to build its fun-spirited theme. Angles and variations in background design frame content while allowing sections to feed into each other and direct visitors’ attention. Pair this with their bold font titles and you have a site that truly shares both faith and school spirit.

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Legatus

Ann Arbor, Michigan - legatus.org

What we love: Style that emphasizes mission

When designing a site, Legatus captured key components for delivering the most important message - who they are. Each homepage section and menu title focuses solely on organization mission and purpose. The styled section beneath the homepage feature region frames the main image above while pulling your attention to their mission. Even the dynamic chapter locator (similar to eCatholic’s parish and school locators), offers an introductory description of each member chapter across North America. Clarity and purpose - check!

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Best Free Theme websites

You don't have to create a custom design to be a top website. These organizations simply utilized a free theme from eCatholic to create an excellent digital experience.

Koinonia Academy

Plainfield, New Jersey - koinoniaacademy.org

What we love: Strong first impression

Our eCatholic team likes to break the cycle of homepages becoming a "catch-all bulletin board" when content just sort of stacks up without direction or purpose. Utilizing the popular free-theme Moser, Koinonia Academy specifically set up their homepage sections to speak to prospective families with a well-rounded first impression focused on mission and values. This intentional layout is complimented by a variety of media including a stunning feature region video, custom buttons, informative video, and vivid imagery.

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St. Kateri Tekakwitha

Santa Clarita, California - saintkateriparish.org

What we love: Show-stopping imagery

Images transform content by complimenting your message with a media that takes readers even further. Saint Kateri Parish understood what it means to do imagery right. By sticking with the eCatholic free-theme, Lorenzo, Saint Kateri took advantage of the large custom buttons, and homepage feature region. However, take a close look at how they carefully selected and cropped images to have a similar color palette and size among picture subjects.

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St. Ann Catholic Church

Prairie Village, Kansas - stannpv.org

What we love: Best Homepage Makeover

St. Ann’s new website has that “wow” factor with its festive colors and background images. Prior to their participation in the eCatholic Homepage Makeover Service, St. Ann’s website was overly crowded and lacked organization; however, once upgraded to the newer free-theme Moser (and a Section Layout!), the transformation was huge. Stunning imagery captures your attention as various section types clearly introduce content. Information is well presented, offering easy direction to where visitors will want to click next.

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