Harewood House
A digital masterplan to help realise a strong commitment to inclusion
Harewood logo stencil on a montage of objects from the collections
“Oliver has been a brilliant member of our team as we navigate the complexities and opportunities of our digital masterplan.
He is incredibly organised, keeps us on time and budget and brings a great wealth of experience, which has been invaluable.”
Harewood is set within a remarkable landscape in the heart of Yorkshire. It is one of England’s finest 18th century country houses, with a magnificent collection of fine and decorative arts, attracting over 250,000 visitors every year.
Harewood House Trust has a mission to ‘push the boundaries of what a country house can be in the 21st-century’. It has a powerful social mandate with a drive towards more sustainable and responsible living. It also has a strong commitment to reaching diverse audiences and making a meaningful connection with marginalised communities.
We supported them over two years as external project manager to help realise the ambitions of their ‘digital masterplan’. Like many of the projects we get involved with, this initiative was funded through the generous support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
We worked closely with the Harewood team alongside focus groups from the local community to develop a fresh vision for the website, balancing cultural sensitivities alongside commercial imperatives.
We brought leading digital agency Cog Design on board to realise this vision through a rigorous process of discovery and responsible design. Principles of equality diversity and inclusion sat at the centre of the project process, alongside a strong commitment to digital sustainability.
We guided the content creation effort, putting effective processes in place to enable internal contributors, together with commissioning more specialist external producers. The new website forms an important part of Harewood’s mandate in demonstrating genuine commitment to inclusivity through multiple voices, deepening the connection with its audiences.
Underpinning the frontend redevelopment of the website were a number of significant changes to backend business systems supporting it. This included frictionless integration with a new system to facilitate ticketing and fundraising, alongside a highly profitable online shop platform.
This project is a good example of the work we do acting as a flexible resource and critical friend, rather than an external agency. We have lots of experience of exercising impartial judgement to put the right creative and technical partnerships in place.
You can see the reimagined website here…
“Oliver’s oversight and focus has been invaluable from the brief to the launch.”