Designing a GDPR-compliant, accessible website for a Tameside children's disability charity — using custom graphic illustration to tell their story without compromising safeguarding.
Our Kids' Eyes is a parent-led charity based in Droylsden, Greater Manchester, supporting Tameside families who have children with special needs and disabilities. Through activities, events, support groups, and day trips, they provide a space where disabled children and their families can relax, connect, and thrive. Despite the real and lasting impact of their work in the community, their online presence didn't reflect the quality or warmth of their organisation. They needed a website that could clearly communicate their services to parents, carers, and potential supporters — while remaining fully compliant with GDPR, safeguarding law, and child privacy requirements.
Building a compelling website for a children's disability charity presents a challenge that most web projects simply don't face. The content needed to feel warm, accessible, and informative — but the most obvious route to achieving that was legally off-limits.
Our Kids' Eyes works directly with disabled children and vulnerable families. Using photographs of participants — however positive or celebratory — would create serious safeguarding and GDPR compliance risks that would have been extremely difficult to manage at scale.
Photographs of the children attending activities and events would raise immediate safeguarding and consent issues, leaving the charity legally exposed and unable to use their most authentic content.
Any visual content featuring identifiable minors required robust consent frameworks — difficult to implement and maintain for a small, volunteer-run organisation.
Without imagery, the site needed another way to visually convey what the charity does and the joy it creates — in a way that resonated with both children and their parents or carers.
The website needed to work for children with reduced capabilities alongside their caregivers — requiring intuitive design, clear navigation, and easily digestible content.
For many of the children supported by OKE, routine is essential. Presenting activity schedules in a clear, understandable format was critical to the usefulness of the site.
We defined a visual style that felt true to the charity's ethos — playful, imaginative, and reminiscent of children's literature. The illustrations needed to speak to children and reassure parents simultaneously.
Every illustration was created bespoke for Our Kids' Eyes, depicting their activities and services in a way that was engaging, legally safe, and on-brand—bringing the concept of seeing the world through a child's eyes to life visually.
We designed the site around clarity and ease of use — with activity calendars, simple navigation, and a layout that works for users of all abilities, including children with reduced capabilities.
Rather than working around the photography problem with a text-heavy or generic design, we saw it as a creative opportunity. By building the entire visual identity of the site around custom graphic illustration, we could bring the charity's warmth and energy to life – without a single consent form.
The build combined a bespoke visual identity with a practical, easy-to-manage WordPress platform — giving the charity full control over their content while ensuring the site remained accessible, compliant, and genuinely useful to families.
Custom graphic illustration
A full suite of original illustrations was created for the site, depicting OKE's activities and the families they support — removing the need for photography entirely while creating a distinctive, memorable brand.
WordPress CMS build
Each activity page features a clear monthly calendar—giving families and caregivers a reliable, easy-to-read overview of upcoming sessions and events.
Activity calendar integration
A full suite of original illustrations was created for the site, depicting OKE's activities and the families they support — removing the need for photography entirely while creating a distinctive, memorable brand.
GDPR-compliant design
Every design and content decision was made with child privacy and safeguarding compliance front of mind — ensuring the site met legal requirements without compromising on warmth or engagement.
By replacing photography with custom illustration, the site communicates everything OKE offers without exposing the charity to safeguarding or data protection risk.
A unique illustration style — warm, imaginative, and rooted in the charity's mission — gave Our Kids' Eyes a distinct and recognisable online identity for the first time.
Monthly activity calendars across every relevant page give families a clear, reliable view of what's coming up — supporting the routines that are so important to many of the children OKE serves.
The WordPress CMS gives the charity's volunteer team the ability to manage and update the site confidently — without the need for ongoing developer support.
The new website gave Our Kids' Eyes far more than a compliant online presence — it gave them a genuine platform to connect with families, communicate their value, and grow their reach across Tameside and beyond.
A clear, accessible website means parents and carers searching for support for disabled children in Tameside can now find OKE and understand what's on offer — without barriers.
A professionally designed, GDPR-compliant site signals that OKE takes the safety and privacy of the children they support seriously — reinforcing trust with families and partner organisations.
The custom illustration style gives Our Kids' Eyes a visual identity that sets them apart — memorable, joyful, and entirely their own.
The self-manageable WordPress platform reduces the operational burden on the charity's volunteer team, freeing them to focus on what matters most — supporting families.
The Our Kids' Eyes project is a clear example of creative problem-solving in the service of something that genuinely matters. What could have been a limiting set of legal constraints became the foundation for a stronger, more distinctive brand identity. By replacing photography with purpose-built illustration, we delivered a website that is legally sound, visually engaging, accessible to children and adults alike, and entirely true to what this remarkable charity stands for.
