RIBAJ

Transforming RIBAJ into a modern digital publication

RIBAJ is the official journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects and one of architecture’s most respected publications, delivering industry insight, project coverage and critical commentary to architects and built environment professionals worldwide.

The Challenge

The relaunch formed part of RIBA’s wider House of Architecture investment programme, a major transformation initiative designed to make architecture more accessible to members, the profession and the public. As part of this programme, Cantarus partnered with RIBA to modernise its digital platforms, including the new RIBA.org platform and the relaunch of RIBAJ.com.

This created several challenges:

The RIBAJ and RIBA brands felt disconnected online, despite belonging to the same organisation.
Readers experienced fragmented journeys, including separate authentication systems.
Search functionality and discoverability were constrained, contributing to duplicated content and competing SEO performance.
Legacy technology limited flexibility for visual storytelling and modern publishing formats.

At the same time, RIBA was undergoing a broader brand transformation. The opportunity emerged to digitally reinterpret RIBAJ, preserving its editorial identity while aligning it with a unified organisational vision.

The goal was not simply to redesign a website, but to modernise how a leading professional magazine is created, managed and experienced online.

RIBAJ is an important part of how we communicate with and support the architectural profession. Modernising the platform was essential to ensure it reflects the quality of the publication and integrates fully with our wider digital ecosystem. Cantarus have provided a strong foundation for its future.

Aaron Woods Interim Technology Director, RIBA

The Partnership

As RIBA’s digital partner, Cantarus worked closely with the RIBAJ editorial team to move the magazine website’s platform to an open-source CMS as part of RIBA’s wider digital transformation programme. Cantarus partnered closely with RIBA and the RIBAJ editorial team to understand future ambitions.

Through discovery workshops, technical audits and stakeholder collaboration, the teams identified a shared objective: create a digital publishing platform that balanced independence and cohesion, allowing RIBAJ to stand out as a high-profile publication while benefiting from a shared digital foundation.

This collaborative approach ensured decisions were shaped by editorial needs as much as technical requirements, audience expectations, and brand strategy from the outset.

Back

RIBAJ was replatformed onto Umbraco Cloud alongside the wider RIBA ecosystem, reducing reliance on bespoke technology while introducing a scalable and future-ready CMS.

The move to a shared CMS foundation also enabled a far more cohesive content and search experience across RIBA.org and RIBAJ.com. Previously, the two platforms operated independently, making it difficult for readers to discover related content across the wider RIBA digital estate. By introducing a shared taxonomy and content structure, articles and resources should now be surfaced more effectively across both platforms, significantly improving discoverability and creating a more unified digital experience between the publication and the wider RIBA ecosystem.

Automated migration processes were developed to transfer more than 10,000 articles from the legacy CMS, preserving RIBAJ’s editorial archive and maintaining continuity for readers.

The new platform delivers:

Umbraco CMS with Workflow capabilities
Umbraco Engage for future personalisation opportunities
Integrated authentication aligned with RIBA membership systems
Improved hosting reliability and performance through cloud infrastructure
Integration with Google Ad Manager, enabling industry-standard management and delivery of digital advertising
Shared content structure and taxonomy enabling improved cross-site discoverability and search experience across RIBA.org and RIBAJ.com

The new platform returns RIBAJ to modern CMS best practices while retaining the extensibility needed to support editorial creativity.

Preserving RIBAJ’s extensive archive while moving to a modern platform was a key priority. Automating the migration ensured continuity for readers and created a scalable foundation for the future.

Martin Woodhall Technical Delivery Manager, Cantarus

A seamless member experience

Previously, users required separate identities to access RIBA and RIBAJ content. The new platform harmonised authentication, enabling members to log in using a single RIBA membership account.

This seemingly simple change significantly improved accessibility to member-only journalism and strengthened the relationship between publication and membership value.

Preserving and enhancing editorial content

RIBAJ’s extensive archive represented decades of architectural knowledge and search authority. Cantarus developed automated migration routines to transfer the majority of content from the legacy CMS into Umbraco.

New content models now provide greater flexibility for article layouts, which better showcase architectural imagery and technical detail. This allows RIBAJ to move beyond the fixed templates of its legacy CMS and create richer editorial experiences.

Design system & brand cohesion

RIBA’s global design system (created by Cantarus) was used and extended for RIBAJ, with tailored UI elements to its distinct visual brand and new components and UX patterns introduced where needed.

Shared usability patterns ensure consistency across platforms, while themed visual treatments maintain RIBAJ’s editorial personality. The result is a cohesive yet flexible digital presence that strengthens both brands simultaneously.

RIBAJ has a strong editorial identity. Our role was to modernise the platform in a way that respected its heritage while enabling more flexible and engaging storytelling.

Rob Helsby Creative Director, Cantarus

Empowering editorial teams

Editorial efficiency was a key priority throughout delivery. The new platform introduces structured content models, helping reduce administrative burden so editors can focus on creating high-quality journalism.

Accessibility, performance and sustainability

Accessibility and performance were embedded into the project from the outset.

The new RIBAJ platform:

Meets WCAG AA accessibility standards
Delivers significantly improved page performance and load times
Provides enhanced uptime and reliability
Moves hosting to cloud infrastructure, contributing to reduced operational overhead and improved sustainability characteristics

Results & Impact

The relaunch has transformed RIBAJ from a standalone digital publication into an integrated, future-ready component of RIBA’s digital ecosystem.

Key outcomes include:

A cohesive relationship between RIBA and RIBAJ brands online
Seamless member access through unified authentication
Preservation of a 10,000+ article archive
Improved SEO posture through reduced duplication and cross-site discoverability
Faster performance and greater platform reliability

Most importantly, the new platform enables RIBAJ to evolve alongside changing publishing expectations, supporting richer storytelling, improved discoverability and future personalisation capabilities.

Future Forward

The new RIBAJ platform provides a scalable foundation for continued optimisation and innovation. With modern infrastructure and enhanced editorial flexibility now in place, RIBAJ is positioned to evolve its digital publishing capabilities and respond to changing audience needs.

Cantarus continues to support RIBA and RIBAJ through ongoing Umbraco optimisation, ensuring the platform evolves alongside editorial, audience and organisational priorities as part of RIBA’s wider digital transformation programme.