This was quite a nice project in the end but did provide multiple outcomes to hit. The brief asked for a group identitity for the Museums of Preston to encourage children (and their families) to use them. It asked that parental engagement with their kids also be encouraged and that Preston as a town of interest, be promoted.
- increase the number of family visitors to each venue
- improve family visitors levels of engagement during their visit to encourage repeat visits and positive recommendations to others
- increase the awareness of Preston’s museums as a place to go amongst families primarily within a 30 minute drivetime of the city. A secondary audience would be families beyond the 30 minute drivetime within the NW region (Greater Manchester, Liverpool. South Cumbria).
- to diversify existing family visitors and encourage non-traditional family museum goers to visit across a broad spectrum of ethnicity and social background
- to encourage families engaging together rather than children doing an activity whilst parents or carers do something else or watch from the sidelines.
My thinking broadly was to use a character and a storyline to follow and participate in (a time trail) set in the museums and in the town. The use of a character obviously, is not uncommon but uses a handmade model rather than CGI. Hand made models tend to be more engaging if children can imagine that they could make the thing themselves but also can more easily relate it to their own existence and materials they may be familiar with. This is a view supported by the creator of Bagpuss Oliver Postgate and he outlines this in the BBC4 documentary, “life in small films”.
Rathern than an uninvolving groundless use of character, this idea includes a plot line which unfolds alongside the participation of kids. The more they learn from their surroundings and the museums, the more help they can provide the character with and the more connections the character has with Preston, are revealed. The concept combines the use of the website as the facilitator of the plot with clues and activities in the museums and in the town. Effectively the character and children learn about the town at the same time and enable progression through the storyline and the character to return home to his own time.
The level of navigation through the website, the plotline and the clue collection, varies in dificulty to encourage the need for parental involvement and avoids dumbing down to the lowest common denominator.
The plot its self is designed to promote some sense of mystery and the richness/excitement of discovering things which have happened in the past. The idea of time travel is obviously well used and familiar to contemporary culture but this aims to relate that concept to the museum experience and discovering things about your home town and where the character slots in to the towns evolution.
The time trail theme and identifiable imagery are used across the promotion communications, including town signage and time trail museum signage. The town and museum signage can be followed in a numered sequence and points out areas of interest and facts about the town. This is also found on the websites “Preston time line”.
