Arc Archive: A Digital Entrance to a Local Museum's Collection
An accessible digital archive makes varied collections easy to explore and compare.
Arc Archive is a fictional museum project. Its collections and institution details are demonstration material.
Open several paths into the collection
The archive includes furniture, receipts, audio, oral histories, and industrial samples. Its internal classification was accurate for researchers but offered few starting points for general visitors.
Our task was to add entry routes while preserving metadata.
Three scales of browsing
The home page opens with a weekly thread connecting three to five different objects. Theme pages explore people, materials, places, and periods. Object pages retain dimensions, provenance, rights, and citation details.
Visitors can collect objects temporarily and compare years, materials, and places at the bottom of the screen. Collection links can be shared without registration.
Visual system
A gray white background and dark ink text let varied objects take focus. Curved crops appear only in navigation and loading transitions, echoing the name without disturbing images. Thumbnails retain their real proportions.
Accessibility
All functions support keyboard use. Audio includes transcripts, enlarged images retain alternative descriptions, and dense metadata can collapse while core sources remain visible.
A digital archive should welcome people who discover their interests while browsing.