Subvert Studio handed the routine development to AI and put the saved hours into design. Here's how they did it, and what other agencies can take from it.
Most membership sites have the same problem. The people running the organisation know exactly what it offers, but new visitors can't find it, and joining takes more clicks than it should.
That was the challenge facing BIMA, the British Interactive Media Association. For 40 years it has represented the UK's digital, tech and creative agencies, and its website is its main tool for recruiting members and partners and keeping its community engaged. Heading into its 40th year, BIMA wanted a site that made its offer easier to understand and easier to join.
Start with the people who just joined
UK agency Subvert Studio, itself a BIMA member, took on the project. Before designing anything, the team interviewed members who had recently signed up. They valued what BIMA offered, but found the old site confusing. That gave Subvert a simple brief: make the offer easier to find and the sign-up easier to finish.
The result is a simpler site structure and a cleaner sign-up journey, set within a refreshed BIMA brand.
Ben Perkins, Managing Director of Subvert Studio, said it was "really important for us that we create a platform fitting for an association representing the digital industry."
Let AI take the routine work
Subvert built the site on Blutui, the web development platform we started inside an agency in Hamilton, New Zealand. The team used our MCP integration to hand routine development tasks to AI, which freed up time for the design and experience.
Frontend developer Arnas Sebeckis came to Blutui from WordPress. He found it "really intuitive and straightforward to work with," and said the time the MCP integration saved went into polishing the final site.
Matt Sullivan, Managing Director of BIMA, said Subvert Studio and Blutui were appointed as delivery partners, and "we couldn't be happier with the results."
What other agencies can take from this
- Talk to your client's most recent sign-ups first. They remember exactly what was hard to find.
- Hand routine development to AI, and spend the hours you save on design and experience.
- Choose a platform that suits your client's audience, not just the build.
What's next
In mid-November we're launching remote MCP. Agency teams will be able to connect to Blutui through Claude or another AI model, starting with content updates and moving on to full builds.
For a platform that started inside a Hamilton agency, powering the home of the UK's digital industry is a big moment for our whole team. You can see the new site at bima.co.uk, and read the original story at blutui.com/articles/bima-website.
