oxideinteractive.com.au
Our challenge was to deliver an improved interactive experience for the collection and encourage more people to contribute their own stories, to complement the collection’s body of knowledge on Australia’s migration history.
Case study
Discover real stories of Australian immigration
A photographic archive that shares the realities of life for Australia's post World War II migrants.
- National Archives of Australia
- Destination:Australia
- destinationaustralia.gov.au
Destination:Australia tells the stories of Australia’s post World War II migrant population. In preparation for a touring exhibition, the National Archives of Australia needed to rejuvenate the collection’s online presence with an immersive and easy to use website.
The Challenge
Project highlights
We delivered an interactive showcase of the collection, including developing the internal API for their travelling exhibition.
- Informed decisions about the product direction through non-technical explanations when working closely with stakeholders.
- Encouraged interaction with the collection by making it easy for users to add their own stories.
- Validated the design and improved public submissions through independent usability testing.
Encouraging engagement and public submissions
To encourage people to contribute their own stories and more information about the photographs, we focused on streamlining how users added their own content. To deal with the influx of user-generated material the Archives staff receive, we ensured an efficient experience for administrators approving new content.
Engaging the community through stories of migration
Destination:Australia is a public record of the challenges and achievements of people migrating to Australia, that builds empathy and adds to our understanding of Australia’s migration history. Recognising the long term contribution of migrants to Australia helps us understand the value of learning from the past, so that we as a nation can make better decisions about our future.
A design that enhances understanding of the whole picture
At the core of Destination:Australia is a library of 22,000 photographs that tell the story of migrants settling in Australia from 1946-1999. Working with the Archives’ refreshed brand, our redesign highlights the photographs as the ‘heroes’ of the design, surrounded by facts, figures and stories that ground them in context.
A delightful exploration of thousands of records
The new Destination:Australia design completely reimagined the experience of engaging with the collection of 22,000 photographs. The dynamic design surfaces different images throughout the day, allowing for exploration of these photographs and their subjects through ‘serendipitous discovery’.