The National Trust website
Whilst at DigitasLBi, we were challenged to redesign The National Trust website from the ground up.
Working with Creative Director Helen Fuchs and Design Director Ricky Burgess, we worked collaboratively with the UX team to push the limits of what the new National Trust digital experience could be. My role involved setting visual style, interaction language and helping develop the digital brand.
Working closely with the client team we designed a website platform that can be effectively utilised by a de-centralised content creation model. Each property of the National Trust takes ownership of their individual area, including events, activities and visitor information.
My role
Design
Client
The National Trust
Agency
DigitasLBi
A nod to the past
The website’s creative direction, layout and use of typography takes cues from the National Trust’s rich history and legacy print material.
There is something quite distinctive and nostalgic about holding a old National Trust property leaflet. 100 years on and the The National Trust remains a cherished household brand. The photographs of properties or coastlines can speak for themselves, but it is these wonderful images combined with bold use of colour and trapezoid shapes that keeps it’s identity so distinct. This is the essence we wanted to keep in the revised digital brand.
(A fact I love to share is that the type face was designed especially for the National Trust and is based on ancient stone carvings from medieval England!)
A special experience on every device
More than half of users wanted to use the website on a smartphone or tablet.
We approached the design of the new site in a modular way. Often referred to as atomic design; we designed templates, components & modules. This ensured we were efficient in the way the site was designed, built and delivered.
The site is now easy to use on all devices, whether you want to find a place to visit, join as a member or find out more about what the National Trust do.
Bringing the interface to life
Using video, animation and front-end code we captured the clients imagination and developed our vision for how the finished product would feel.
Once we had established the look and feel of key areas such as the home and property pages I dived into After Effects, Keynote & InVision to explore how different elements and modules might animate on different devices.
Credits
Creative Director
UX Director
Production
Design Director
Designer
Client services
Senior Designer
UX Architects
John Roche & Tom Good