M&S Archive
The M&S Archive is a collection of over 70,000 items revealing the brand’s rich history, available both online and in person at the Michael Marks Building in Leeds.
The challenge
M&S Archive needed a website that would attract more visitors to its physical site in Leeds and promote its digital collection to a wider audience. As part of a global corporation, their new website had to satisfy the cybersecurity policies of the wider Marks and Spencer Group.
The solution
Our process began with providing consultancy to M&S Archive around how to best showcase their collection online. We analysed how leading museums display their exhibitions digitally, to identify innovative approaches to user interface design and interactive features.
Using these insights, we designed an immersive website that replicates the experience of moving through a physical museum. Intuitive navigation empowers users to explore the collection easily, while interactive timelines of M&S history give visitors control over their journey through the M&S brand story.
To fulfil the cybersecurity requirements, we followed industry best practices and developed custom security enhancements, hardening the build to the highest level possible within WordPress.
The Castlegate team were really creative and responsive, taking the time to understand what we wanted to achieve for our online visitors and guiding us through the process with lots of support. We’re delighted with the end result and so are our customers
Head of M&S Archive
The results
- Since the website’s launch, M&S have seen increased engagement with the digital archive
- M&S Archive’s website delivers an authentic virtual museum experience that captivates and educates audiences of all ages and interests
- The build passed rigorous third-party penetration testing, satisfying the strict cybersecurity protocols of the M&S Group
Visit: archive.marksandspencer.com
