A digital home for a living history.

Overview

Hogan’s Alley is an important part of Vancouver’s Black history.

It was a community shaped by people, businesses, culture, and belonging. Its legacy continues to influence the city and the work of the Hogan’s Alley Society today. The Society works to preserve this history while advancing the social, political, economic, and cultural well-being of people of African descent in Metro Vancouver.

Burst partnered with the Hogan’s Alley Society to rethink its digital presence and create a website that could bring these stories, initiatives, resources, and opportunities together in one clear experience.

The result is a digital platform designed to make the Society’s work more accessible, strengthen connections with its community, and create a lasting home for its stories.

The Challenge

A history this important deserves a stronger platform.

Hogan’s Alley Society represents a story that reaches across generations. Its work spans historical preservation, community engagement, research, advocacy, housing, cultural programming, and the future of Hogan’s Alley.

The existing digital experience needed to better reflect the breadth and significance of that work. Visitors needed a clearer way to discover the history of Hogan’s Alley, understand the Society’s mission, explore current initiatives, find events and resources, and learn how to get involved.

The challenge was to bring these different needs together without reducing a complex history into a simplified story. The new experience needed to be clear and accessible while retaining the depth, character, and context that make the Society’s work meaningful.

Strategy

Start with the story.

The redesign began by looking at the organization as a whole.

Its history, advocacy, community programs, research, events, and future initiatives each tell part of a larger story. The website needed to connect those pieces in a way that felt natural to the people visiting it. Burst developed a clearer content and information structure around the ways audiences engage with the Society.

The goal was straightforward: help people understand where Hogan’s Alley came from, what the Society is doing today, and how they can be part of what comes next.

User Journeys

Different people. Different reasons to visit.

Someone discovering Hogan’s Alley for the first time may want to understand its history.

A community member may be looking for an event or program. A researcher may be looking for historical information or resources. A supporter may want to contribute. A partner may need to understand the Society’s current work. The redesigned experience considers each of these journeys.

Information architecture and navigation were structured around the questions visitors bring with them, creating clearer pathways through the site and reducing the effort required to find what matters. The result is an experience that welcomes people in at different points and gives each audience a clear way forward.

The Website

A home for history and action.

Burst designed and developed a new digital experience that brings the Hogan’s Alley Society’s work together in one connected platform.

The website creates clear pathways into the organization’s history, mission, initiatives, research, events, programs, and opportunities to support its work. A flexible content structure gives the Society greater control over how information is presented and provides a foundation for the site to evolve as its work continues.

Responsive design ensures the experience remains clear and accessible across devices. The result is a website that works as both a place to learn and a place to engage.

Storytelling

Bringing the past into the present.

Hogan’s Alley is history, but the Society’s work is very much about the present and the future. The new website brings those dimensions together.

Historical stories provide context for the work happening today, while current initiatives show how that legacy continues to shape the community. Photography, stories, people, and place are given room to lead. Deeper content remains available for those who want to explore further.

The result is a more connected narrative, one that allows visitors to understand not only what Hogan’s Alley was, but why its story still matters.

Creative

Designed with a sense of place.

The visual direction brings a contemporary digital experience to a story rooted deeply in Vancouver’s history.

The design gives prominence to photography, people, stories, and meaningful moments. Typography, composition, and interaction create a clear framework without competing with the content. The result feels considered rather than institutional. Human rather than formal.

The system was also designed to grow with the Society, providing flexibility for new stories, research, events, programs, and community initiatives.

Community

Built for connection.

Community sits at the centre of Hogan’s Alley Society’s work.

The website makes it easier for people to discover opportunities to participate, attend events, explore resources, support the Society, and stay connected to its initiatives. It also creates a stronger digital presence for the people and stories that have shaped Vancouver’s Black community.

The website is a point of entry, but its purpose extends beyond information. It helps create the connections that keep a community’s history active and its future visible.

The Impact

A stronger foundation for what comes next.

The redesigned website gives Hogan’s Alley Society a clearer, more flexible platform for sharing its history and advancing its work.

Visitors can move more easily between the past and present, explore current initiatives, discover events and resources, and find meaningful ways to participate. For the Society, the new platform provides room to continue growing. New stories can be shared. Research can be published. Programs and events can evolve. The organization can continue building its digital presence alongside its work in the community.

In Closing

A story that continues to shape the future.

The Hogan’s Alley Society website creates a stronger digital home for a history that deserves to be understood, remembered, and carried forward.

It gives people a clearer way into the story, a better understanding of the work happening today, and a place to discover what comes next. Because preserving history is not only about looking back. It is about giving the next chapter somewhere to begin.