Creating Great On-Site Experiences

We are proud to work with museums, attractions and heritage sites of all shapes and sizes, helping to deliver extraordinary on-site and online digital visitor experiences.

The last few decades of digital interpretation have been an exciting time for the industry as a whole. Based on our own research, gathered over the last 25 years, we understand what audiences enjoy in a digital experience and how they best absorb interpretive content.

By working closely with you during the planning stage, we not only get to know the story you want to tell, but also can determine the most effective way to tell it. We understand that digital content is there to enhance, not replace, your existing experience!

Here are a few things we will consider together during our initial planning meeting to ensure the digital experience we create is exactly what you need.

• Understanding your visitors – watch them, listen to them, chat with them. Are you happy with your current demographic or are you looking to attract a new audience? You can also test and evaluate how your current visitors interact with different displays, visitor journeys or layouts.
• Looking at the big picture – it is important that we ground any digital interpretation within the existing experience and by reviewing your site in a holistic way, from your visitors’ perspective, we can begin to understand where digital can best fit in with what is there already.
• Considering the visitor journey – do you want a digital narrative that is structured (where visitors move through your site in a set order) or where they have random access (so can choose their own itinerary) or even a hybrid of the two where the guide suggests a route, but leaves some browsing options open to the visitor?  Are there potential bottlenecks within the site that need to be avoided?
• Discussing the tone and style of your guide – maybe your content will have the feel of a radio documentary or perhaps it’ll be more conversational. A character (real or imaginary, filmed or animated) could lead the guide, you might opt for a more neutral narrator, or the voiceover could be local – dialect and accent can help to give your guide a sense of place. In fact we’ve written a whole article on how to select the right voice, take a look here.
• Thinking about the practical side of using a handheld device – consider letting your visitors know what to do with their bodies when using the device. Via the narration or visual signposting, you can suggest where they might stand to get the best view, which way to look or even direct them to a seating area so that they can delve into the story in more detail. Clear and concise instructions are important.
• Keeping an open mind about creativity and flair – visitors appreciate when you surprise and delight them. Taking them beyond what they might expect will give them an experience to remember. There’s much more to a digital handheld guide than just imparting information.

“Quality and creativity of content has never been more important. People are used to very high standards of production through their interactions with social media, online gaming and TV, especially younger audiences. We ensure our multimedia guides encourage visitors to look and also to think about what they are seeing.”
Anne Fletcher, ATS Director of Interpretation

Great storytelling is at the heart of what we do and the expert teams at ATS can advise on the best way to bring your story to life for your visitors so please get in touch and we can discuss how ATS can help with your next project!