The Science Museum Group
A shared visual identity and codebase for five of the country's leading museums.
The Science Museum Group is a powerhouse in the global museum community. The Science Museum in London is the most Googled museum in the world and hosts over 5 million visitors annually. It is a flagship museum within the group, alongside the National Railway Museum, Locomotion, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the Science and Media Museum. However, the group faced a significant challenge in aligning the visual identities and digital infrastructures of these large, varied, and complex cultural institutions.
Challenge
The need for a new digital presence for the group arose from inconsistencies across the individual museum websites within the group that were creating a fragmented user experience. The outdated digital infrastructure was also causing operational issues and providing an unsatisfactory experience for visitors.
Approach
In partnership with branding agency North, we translated the group's new shared visual identity into a modern, component-based digital visual language. This new identity was applied consistently across all five sites, starting with the rebranded Science and Media Museum. Using the Drupal content management system, we laid the foundations for the development of the subsequent sites, implementing a shared codebase for improved consistency and greatly simplified updates and maintenance.
A feature named 'Objects and Stories' was developed, empowering the group's team to create immersive content. To achieve this, we integrated an API with a Collection Information System, enabling the seamless addition of objects from the collection within any editorial and narrative pages.
Results
The new, unified group of websites achieved some outstanding results within a single year.
- The bounce rate decreased by 75% demonstrating that users feel motivated to explore the content on offer.
- The average time on page increased by 39% demonstrating that users were engaged by the website content.
- The average page download time decreased by 23% demonstrating the optimisation of the new technical infrastructure.
This project also won a GLAMi award in Vancouver in the 'Marketing and Promotions' category.
"You're going to find a partner who will work with you to really think differently about digital and deliver something extraordinary. The new web estate has been very well received by both the museum and its audiences and is already forming the foundations for the next phase of the Group's digital ambitions."