CMA Martinique
Institutional website for Martinique's Chamber of Crafts and Trades
Background
CMA Martinique — Martinique's Chamber of Crafts and Trades. A government institution supporting artisans: business creation, management, training, certifications. The kind of organization that touches thousands of people but rarely gets a website that reflects that impact.
This was my first real project. A 6-month internship where I handled everything: web strategy, information architecture, design, Elementor build. Not assisting — actually doing the work.
The challenge
Government websites have a reputation. Dense content, confusing navigation, pages that feel like they were designed by committee. CMA had years of accumulated content across dozens of services: business registration, training programs, certifications, apprenticeships, news, legal requirements.
The job wasn't just to make it look better. It was making it work. An artisan checking if they need a specific permit shouldn't need a map to find the answer.
Strategy first
Before opening Elementor, I spent weeks on strategy. Who uses this site? What do they need? How do they think?
The users
Three user profiles:
- Future entrepreneurs — Need guidance on business creation, looking for training
- Active artisans — Managing their business, need forms and certifications
- Apprentices & students — Looking for training programs and the CFA (apprenticeship center)
Each group thinks differently. Future entrepreneurs are exploring, unsure where to start. Active artisans know exactly what they need — just want to find it fast. The student is comparing options.
The architecture
I restructured everything around five pillars:
- Votre CMA — The institution itself, governance, press, jobs
- Créer — Business creation pathway, step by step
- Gérer — Day-to-day business management, forms, compliance
- Se Former — Training catalog, certifications, CFA
- S'Informer — News, events, resources
Nothing revolutionary on paper. But the previous structure mixed these randomly. A training page would sit next to a news article next to a legal form. Users bounced between sections without realizing it.
The design
Visual identity
CMA already had brand guidelines. Deep red (#cc1a30) as primary, dark blue (#202b5d) for headings. I worked within those constraints but pushed for cleaner execution.
- Roboto for body text — readable, neutral, scales well
- Cabin for headings — a bit more character without being flashy
- Generous whitespace — institutional doesn't have to mean cramped
Homepage structure
The homepage does a lot of heavy lifting. It needs to serve all three user profiles without overwhelming any of them.
Hero slider — Rotating announcements for time-sensitive content: new year messages, upcoming certifications, apprenticeship campaigns. Revolution Slider handles the animations.
Quick access panel — Eight buttons for the most-requested actions: business registration, training discovery, CFA enrollment, taxi/VTC certification. The stuff people actually come for.
Featured programs — Highlighting key offerings like Pass CMA Liberté (subscription service) and Parcours Créateur (entrepreneur pathway).
News feed — Latest articles, keeping the site feeling alive.
Partner logos — Government entities, banks, EU funding badges. Institutional credibility matters.
Building with Elementor
Six months of Elementor. I learned what it does well and where it fights you.
What worked
Speed — For an internship timeline, Elementor lets me move fast. Changes were immediate, client feedback loops were short.
Consistency — Global widgets and saved templates kept the design system tight across 50+ pages.
Client handoff — The CMA team could update content without breaking layouts. That mattered — they'd be maintaining this long after I left.
What I had to work around
Performance — Elementor loads heavy. I stripped unused widgets, optimized images aggressively, configured caching carefully.
Custom styling — Some things just needed CSS. Elementor's style panel doesn't cover everything, especially for responsive edge cases.
Accessibility — Had to manually check focus states, heading hierarchy, alt texts. Elementor doesn't enforce these.
Content strategy
An institutional site is 80% content work. The CMA had decades of accumulated material — PDFs, old pages, outdated info mixed with current requirements.
What I did
- Audited everything — Mapped existing content, identified duplicates, flagged outdated info
- Grouped by intent — Reorganized pages around what users actually want to do
- Wrote clearer CTAs — "Plus de détails" everywhere became specific actions
- Created landing pages — Each main section got a proper entry point, not just a menu dropdown
What the team handles now
- News updates — Regular posting keeps the site current
- Training catalog — New courses get added through templates I built
- Job listings — Internal recruitment uses a dedicated section
- Event announcements — Time-sensitive content through the slider
Technical decisions
WordPress + Elementor Pro — Client requirement, but also the right call. The CMA team knew WordPress. Training them on a custom stack would've eaten the timeline.
Revolution Slider — For the hero carousel. Overkill for simple slides, but the client wanted entrance animations and layered content.
Cookie consent — GDPR compliance with proper consent management.
Analytics — Google Analytics + Facebook tracking for campaign measurement.
Responsive breakpoints — Tested heavily on mobile. A lot of users access this from phones, especially for quick form lookups.
What I learned
Six months on one project changes how you think. This wasn't a portfolio piece I controlled end-to-end — it was a real institution with real constraints.
Strategy before design. The weeks spent on information architecture saved months of rework. When the structure is right, pages almost design themselves.
Institutional ≠ boring. Government sites can be clear, usable, even pleasant. The bar is just low because most don't try.
Elementor is a tool. Not good or bad — just a tool. It let me ship something real in six months. Those constraints pushed me to learn CSS properly for the things it couldn't do.
Content is the product. On a site like this, design serves content. Every layout decision aimed at making information findable, readable, actionable.
The site is still running. The CMA team updates it regularly. For a first project, that's the best outcome — something that outlasts you.