Garden Museum
A digital evolution focused on sustainability and social cohesion
Garden Museum courtyard garden
“We are thrilled with our new digital identity, created with Oliver and the specialist team he introduced to the Museum. The outcome is stylish and effective and that’s a consequence of Oliver’s ability to both understand what makes an organisation tick but also to open it up to new ideas and audiences.”
The Garden Museum is Britain’s only museum devoted to gardening and the culture that surrounds it. It is dedicated to exploring and celebrating the art, history and design of British gardens and their place in our lives today.
Housed in the deconsecrated church of St Mary-at-Lambeth, the museum has a permanent collection of gardening artefacts and tools throughout history, along with being home to the Archive of Garden Design. It offers a lively programme of exhibitions, events, and community projects, aimed at engaging with the widest possible audience.
We supported the museum over 18 months to deliver its programme of ‘digital transformation’, an ambitious new initiative funded through Arts Council England.
With a small internal team and no dedicated digital resources, we guided the museum through the journey of turning its digital promise into a series of practical and achievable projects.
We brought digital agency HdK on board to lovingly design and develop the site, underpinned by sound integration of supporting business systems by Rod Barlow Consulting and expert input from Accessible by Design. Alongside managing the input of the various external agencies, we worked in close collaboration with the internal team throughout the content production process.
The museum’s digital evolution has empowered it to deepen the relationship with its different audiences while strongly reinforcing its commitment to creativity, inclusivity and sustainability.
In parallel with redevelopment of the website, we commissioned a digital commercial review of the Museum’s approach to retail, ticketing, live streaming and CRM. This assessed the capability of current systems and processes and advised on a realistic roadmap for development, with a focus on reinforcing financial resilience.
No two projects are the same and each requires an approach appropriate to the culture of the organisation. This one demonstrates our ability to bring insight gained from years of working with a variety of larger clients, and apply this in a pragmatic way to a smaller one.
The launch of the new website, ticketing portal and online shop was just the beginning and you can see how the museum’s digital presence is continuing to develop here…
“Oliver had a very good relationship with the project team and understood how to use our budget to get the best results.”