The Problem
Orion Magazine has spent more than four decades publishing some of the most celebrated writing at the intersection of nature, culture, and environmental justice. When they came to Cornershop in 2013, their Expression Engine site had simply outgrown itself. They needed more than a new look — they needed a publishing platform built to match the depth, complexity, and visual beauty of the magazine itself.
The stakes were high. Orion’s site needed to serve loyal long-time readers and first-time visitors alike, support a serious editorial workflow, showcase stunning photography and long-form writing, and connect with a web of integrations: subscription management, merchandise, donations, email marketing, and an extensive digital archive.
Our Approach
We started where we always do — with the people who would actually use the site. Usability testing, content audits, card sorting, and a thorough discovery process all informed the final architecture. Nothing was guesswork.
From there, we built a ground-up custom WordPress site with templates for articles, issues, contributors, multimedia, and archives — each one designed to support Orion’s editorial team and present their content with the same care their print team brings to every issue. Navigation was a particular focus. We developed a rich, magazine-style menu system that let readers browse by theme, contributor, or issue — a design detail that other agencies later cited as a reference in their own proposals.
We also helped Orion navigate a meaningful CRM transition during the project, supporting them through a period of platform change and building the site with enough flexibility to accommodate what came next.
The Solution
The finished site gave Orion a publishing platform that could finally do justice to their content — editorially, visually, and technically. All the integrations they needed were working in harmony: subscriptions, shopping, donations, email, and archives, wrapped in a clean aesthetic that never got in the way of the writing.
After launch, Cornershop stayed on as a long-term support partner. Over the years, that meant ongoing bug fixes, content updates, plugin management, and performance improvements — keeping the site stable and secure through multiple WordPress evolutions. In 2023, we delivered a comprehensive site audit covering performance, accessibility, SEO health, plugin hygiene, and media library management. The audit gave Orion’s team clear, prioritized recommendations and a concrete roadmap heading into their next major redesign.
The Results
More than ten years in, Cornershop is still Orion’s digital partner. We’ve supported them through a major redesign, years of maintenance, a CRM transition, a global pandemic, and into the planning stages for their next chapter.
That kind of long-term relationship isn’t just about keeping a site running — it’s about being a genuine partner to an organization that cares deeply about what they put into the world. Orion’s mission is serious, their standards are high, and their readers expect a lot. Getting to support all of that, year after year, is exactly what we mean when we say we’re in this for the long haul.
