Museums & Heritage | Bringing Stories to Life
Creating engaging experiences that connect audiences of all ages with our historic and cultural stories
Clients: Royal Museums Greenwich [confirm] · Trinity House · Dorset Museum · Nothe Fort · Duddle Heath [name the commissioning body]
Formats: Exhibition graphics · Interactive Experiences · Hands-on learning activities · Experiential Storytelling
Audiences: Families, children, schools, communities and visitors of all ages
Role: Creative Direction and Brand Communication
Partners: Curators, educators, exhibition designers, fabricators
Timeframe: 2016-2025
The challenge
Museums and heritage sites hold remarkable stories, but they compete for attention with everything else on a family day out. They have to engage children and adults at the same time, meet the learning goals of funders and educators, and often reach people who never walk through the door.
Across these projects, the brief was the same at heart: make the collection, the history or the place feel alive, accessible and worth spending time with.
My approach
Whatever the format, I brought the same principles to every project:
Story first. Start with the story the organisation needs to tell, then find the format that tells it best, whether that's a wall, a game, a board on a heath or an inflatable on a school field.
Designed for every age. Illustration and clear, layered content that works for a curious child and an informed adult at the same time.
Learning through doing. Wherever possible, visitors play, make or explore rather than just read.
Taking the museum to people. Experiences that travel to schools and communities, and outdoor interpretation that works where the history actually happened.
Built to last. Brand toolkits, scalable artwork and durable materials that organisations can keep using long after launch.
The work
Six projects, five heritage organisations, one approach to visitor experience
Royal Museums Greenwich & Trinity House | Guiding Lights Exhibition
The brief: Bring the story of lighthouses and maritime safety to life for museum visitors.
What I did: Large-scale exhibition graphics and wall artwork that turned maritime themes into bold, accessible visual storytelling, working closely with curators and exhibition designers. My work included art direction, illustration, development of the graphic system.
Result: Greater audience engagement and longer dwell time in the exhibition. Opening the subject up to a new audience
Royal Museums Greenwich | Ahoy! Icebreaker Interactive
The brief: Create a playful way for young visitors to learn about polar navigation.
What I did: Led a creative team to design an interactive game where children steer an icebreaker through the ice, meeting penguins and walruses and working their way out when the ship gets trapped. Easy to pick up, and educational without feeling like a lesson.
Result: Increased dwell time and visitor satisfaction.
Dorset Museum | Naturally Curious Paleoart Experience
The brief: A hands-on learning experience that would meet Arts Council England funding objectives.
What I did: Designed an interactive paleoart activity that combines learning with making, developed with the museum's educators. My role included working with the curation team to design the content and experience, define style and produce illustrations, coordinate with printers for final art panels.
Result: Met the funding objectives, increased participation and kept visitors engaged for longer.
Dorset Museum | The Mobile Museum
The brief: Take the museum out to schools and communities that might not visit.
What I did: Created a hand-drawn, pen-and-ink illustration of the museum building, balancing architectural accuracy with a family-friendly look and featuring key objects from the collection in a vibrant palette. I built it as scalable vector artwork so it could be produced as a large inflatable structure.
Result: The inflatable museum toured schools and communities, bringing the collection to new audiences.
Nothe Fort | Brand Development
The brief: Refresh the brand of a historic Victorian fort to reach a broader audience.
What I did: A brand refresh blending heritage with contemporary design, including a new roundel logo, banners, and panels for the fort's land train, all supported by a flexible brand toolkit.
Result: Stronger recognition, a broader audience and consistent branding across every touchpoint.
Duddle Heath | Interpretation Boards
The brief: Share the archaeological, natural and historical heritage of a Dorset heath as part of its regeneration.
What I did: Designed contemporary outdoor interpretation boards that tell the site's stories, from Bronze Age barrows to its Roman past, in a way that appeals to visitors of every age.
Result: Supported the site's regeneration and keeps its stories accessible for future generations
