Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

SBT was looking for an integrated solution to create a new collections online experience for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust which would allow presenting the 4 collections in a variety of ways for different audiences, supported by a solution for digital asset management, allowing the ingestion of digital assets, the addition of metadata and linking assets to collections items among others tasks.

A website built on fully responsive templates for desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile with a visual design that supports the Trust in communicating its value proposition to both expert and novice level users. A clear separation of content and search tools offer a seamless browsing experience, while the relationships between different sections of the collection and the subjects/people involved allow users to discover and reach more through browsing.

When the project was started, there was little known about current web usage, which is good, because it means any analytics will be an improvement. Increasing the engagement of not only researchers but also students, teachers and more casual users like tourists to help them understand the breadth of, and to make use of, the collection easily is one of the focus areas our designers worked on.

We worked iteratively and in close collaboration with the SBT team. The work was divided into two stages. Stage 1 involved the design of ‘essential elements’: faceted and specific search, including search within results, while phase 2 concerned ‘narrative elements’: the ability to create stories and trains across the full archives and collections.

The search page presents an interactive search form that caters to different audience needs, from simple searches performed by keywords to multiple search criteria added dynamically. Filters offer options to narrow further whilst a comprehensive onboarding helps less experienced users navigate through the four archival collections (Museum, Archive, Library and RSC performances).

The archive objects can be navigated through an expandable hierarchy that gives the user context to individual archive folders, whilst the other 3 collections can be browsed by keywords such as materials, languages or people.

The website has become an online resource which, for the first time, gives people the chance to explore the Trust’s extensive museum library and archive collection and will support the SBT team’s efforts in the ongoing digitisation of archival materials from the Museum, Archive, Library and RSC performances.