Design approach/rationale
After initial visits to the museum and interviews with the Museum Curator it became clear that the goal of the museum's website was to both attract new visitors to the museum (which is located 100 km north of the Melbourne) and to raise the profile of the museum internationally. With this in mind we based the site around a 3D map of the museum, this not only provides an easy mechanism of navigation around the website but also demonstrates, at a glance, the size of the museum's collection and the research facilities it provides.
A balance was also required so that the museum's website provided just enough information to be of interest to those who used it but also to encourage those same users to visit the museum in person.
The design Smashing Time developed is quite unique amongst similar sites. All the usual military visual clichés such as green/khaki, gun barrels, tank tracks or camouflage netting were deliberately avoided and our predominately red/maroon design distinguishes the RAAC's site from all others around the world. It remains modern in appearance but not so different as to alienate the enthusiasts and veterans who are the museums main target audience. |
Comments
The response to the site has exceeded all the museum's expectations with over 6000 hits in the first 6 months of operation.
Through careful planning and programming we have ensured that the RAAC's website has a very high search engine ranking and it typically ranks higher than the world's largest tank museum, The Tank Museum at Bovington England (www.tankmuseum.co.uk)
who have had a website for more than 7 years longer than the RAAC.
The website continues to grow, and regular updates are provided every 3-4 months by the museum staff.
The careful balance we strived for has been successfully achieved as this comment from an enthusiast bulletin board attests:
I quickly tried to find a few links to the Churchill tanks and found [www.armytankmuseum.com.au] this wicked Australian Army site. It's a teaser though, there's just enough information to get you interested and wanting to go to the museum... it's a pity Puckapunyal's a few thousand km's from Perth...
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