Rufus Leonard launches interactive online WW2 exhibition for Imperial War Museum

03 July 2005

Rufus Leonard, the leading brand and digital agency, today announces the launch of an exciting new interactive online exhibition that forms part of the £10m year long “Their Past, Your Future” programme being led by The Imperial War Museum and supported by The Big Lottery Fund.

The new online exhibition, which is the first of its kind to be developed by the Imperial War Museum, will sit within the main www.theirpast-yourfuture.org.uk site that was originally designed by Rufus Leonard in 2004.  It has taken many of the elements of the TPYF physical exhibition currently touring the country – materials, images, archive documents and artefacts - and adapted them to an online environment so that the museum experience is accessible to virtual visitors anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. 

The site offers a selection of personal stories that use photographs, letters and diaries to convey the experiences of people who’s lives were changed by the war; an emotive image gallery depicting life across the UK during the conflict; interactive timelines that provide information of key dates and events; and specially commissioned film archive footage mixing modern day interviews with the reality of life 60 years ago. 

The site has been designed to appeal to the widest popular audience, from WW2 ‘enthusiasts” and museum evaluators, through to schoolchildren studying the conflict who can download content to support their history and citizenship classes (indeed more learning resources will be available in the next phase of the site).  Additionally, the online exhibition has been made accessible to all those wishing to visit it since the content will be available as non-interactive HTML pages as well as Flash.

The main part of the “Their Past, Your Future” website has also been enriched to ensure the user experience prior to the online exhibition is equally as smooth and compelling as the exhibition area itself.  Enhancements to the homepage, exhibition location finder page and site navigation have all been made and will go live at the same time as the online exhibition.

Talking on the completion of the project, Alex Zanich, Senior Project Manager at Rufus Leonard, commented:
“Having been involved in the original design work for the “Their Past, Your Future” website it was with great excitement that we approached the brief for the online exhibition.  Whilst the physical exhibition will visit in the region of 70 sites across the UK, the reach of the site is endless and for younger visitors who have no experience of war the interactive content will go some way to bringing conflict to life in a way that no text book could do.”

Dan Phillips, Education Project Manager for Their Past, Your Future, added:
“Having been impressed with their creative ideas at pitch stage, and worked with the team at Rufus Leonard on the original website design, we have been delighted with their response to this second stage.  With their solid understanding of branding and digital issues we felt sure they’d be able to take the offline exhibition and successfully translate it to an online platform – we haven’t been disappointed.  The finished result, that undoubtedly pushes the boundaries of what British museums are doing online, is a resource that all involved in the project can be proud of.”