Interactive Web Design Solution - Gainsborough's House
Based in Sudbury, Gainsborough's House is the birthplace museum of Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), one of the greatest artists in the history of British art. Gainsborough's House has the largest collection of Gainsborough's work on display at any one time in Britain. The Dedham Vale and Stour Valley project needed Gainsborough's House to produce a display for various museums which would include information on a variety of artists and their work in the Stour Valley.
Gainsborough's House needed specialist expertise to create an interactive web design tool that would be more engaging for visitors, something that could be on display at the various museums such as a touch screen website application.
- Suffolk is the birthplace of two of Britain’s greatest landscape artists, Gainsborough and Constable.
- In 1958, Gainsborough's House Society was formed to purchase Thomas Gainsborough's house in Sudbury.
- The Museum opened to the public in 1961 and has remained open ever since, operating as an independent charitable trust.
- We worked with Gainsborough’s House to bring their idea for an interactive web design solution into realisation.
- Understanding the wide target audience, we designed the interactive web design touch screen application to be intuitive for users of all ages to navigate.
The Results
The new website was engaging, easy to use and provided user guidance throughout. We were able to produce a portable solution - something that could be on display not only at Gainsborough's House, but at other museums in the area too. As a result, we also recognised the importance of clear branding. The product needed to be instantly identified as a Gainsborough’s House product.
Finally, the application was designed in a way that could be developed over time and used for other marketing purposes for Gainsborough’s House. The tool was created with flexibility in mind to allow additional narrative and pictures to be added at a later stage.
It has been really good working with Mackman – they made the process an easy one and the finished product surpasses my original expectations.
Nick Winch, Development Officer - Mackman
Interactive web design was the perfect solution for this project and collaborating with Gainsborough’s House rewarding – we are all very proud of the result.
Hannah Marshallsay, Client Lead
