Designed and built by award-winning digital agency Equilibrium, the new Fremantle Prison website launched in late November, has revolutionised the way the state’s world heritage attraction tells its story online.
The new site leverages emerging technologies and emotive design to deliver a fully immersive user experience and take the asset’s online marketing and brand storytelling to a whole new level, according to Senior Digital Designer on the project, Siong Eng.
“The venue itself: the tours, history and physicality all powerfully informed the strategic and creative direction of the build.
“We’ve made use of some of the industry’s leading technologies and design formats to try to replicate real life look and feel, and create an immersive experience that encourages users to explore and get lost in the Fremantle Prison’s highly detailed world,” said Mr Eng.
The agency was tasked with redeveloping the old Fremantle Prison website to create a refreshed, modern aesthetic; enhance user experience and improve ease of navigation, particularly toward new, online booking capabilities that will go live in the New Year.
The new site is a fresh example of how storytelling remains a core aspect of digital design and a growing trend that sees online interactions becoming more “television-like”.
Utilising fluid, sensory-loaded design from the minute you land, the site uses video footage overlaid with audio recordings of the site’s tour guides, to pique and capture visitor interest early.
“On a site visit, one of the things that most resonated with our team was the often dark and intriguing prisoner stories our guide shared with us throughout the tour. So, we wanted to find a way to capture this experience.
“To do this we created “story panels”, basically banners that include an image, text and audio, dispersed at various touch points throughout the site, designed to whet visitors’ appetite to learn more and welcome them into the world of the Fremantle Prison,” said Mr Eng.
With the new, online booking feature set to launch in the New Year, just in time for peak, summer tourism season; the new website is already generating a great deal of attention and enquiry.
Equilbrium Managing Director, Warren Gibbs believes the website’s rich and captivating storytelling will be a hit with interstate, international and local visitors alike.
“Western Australia has such a great depth of experiences to share with the world, and the rest of the country.
“This project has been a fantastic opportunity to let our team loose, and deploy our creative and strategic expertise to pull together a world-class, premium digital product for one of WA’s world-class, tourism experiences.
“The website really pushes the envelope in terms of quality, bespoke, interactive digital solutions in the market right now and we’re exceptionally proud of the end result.
“We hope the people of WA and visitors to our state enjoy it as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it!” said Mr Gibbs.
Visit the Fremantle Prison website: fremantleprison.com.au