Digital Visitor Experience
In 2025, to celebrate its 200th anniversary, the National Gallery opened a redesigned Sainsbury Wing.
We were commissioned to develop the digital infrastructure that now serves as the centrepiece for the new wing’s visitor welcome experience.
The new visitor experience begins outside the Gallery, with a pair of digital totems flanking the entrance. Standing just under three metres tall, they are the first digital screens to be installed in Trafalgar Square. The totems present inclusive welcome messages to attract visitors crossing the square, share key opening and closing information, and promote major exhibitions.
We designed a new gallery map experience for visitors as they enter the Sainsbury Wing. The map was redrawn and optimized for accessibility on a micro LED display. An animated legend highlights key paintings, grouped by the movements at the heart of the collection. A QR code connects visitors to free gallery Wi-Fi and to an optimized mobile version of the map.
We created a new large information screen to support the staff at the information desk and to present key membership, ticketing, and guide details to visitors at a distance. Optimized for micro LED, the screen is updated regularly by internal staff through a responsive template.
A 10x3m screen sits on the far wall, directly facing visitors as they enter the new wing. With over 50 million pixels, it anchors a digital canvas that extends across the adjacent map and information screens. The design carries colour schemes and artworks across surfaces to create a balanced, harmonious experience. We developed more than 90 minutes of content for this canvas — ranging from ultra high-resolution journeys through paintings, to concise cheat sheets demystifying art movements in under 50 words, to slow-looking films offering a behind-the-scenes view of the gallery.
We designed an exhibition totem positioned at the bottom of the Sainsbury Wing stairs — a critical wayfinding decision point. The screen clearly directs visitors up or down depending on whether they wish to enter a paid exhibition. Its content and styling are integrated with the printed totem to ensure a seamless design language across both mediums.
We created a system for lift screens to display a series of information panels — from food & drink and retails options, to membership offers and special exhibition promotions. The system is maintained by internal staff following simple rules and templates, ensuring clarity and consistency across all messaging.
Over three years we worked closely with the Director’s Office, as well as curatorial, marketing, design, digital, and IT teams.
We spent extensive time on the ground to understand the needs of all stakeholders.
We ran workshops with visitors and internal teams to explore the implications of different design solutions.
We developed strategic tools to guide the work, including micro-journeys, content frameworks, and service blueprints.
We tested display technologies and contributed to the hardware commissioning process.
We produced all assets—static, motion, and code—and programmed the playback schedule.
We created templates and guidelines, and ran training sessions for the internal team to ensure long-term sustainability.
Strategy
Concept Design
Design Detailing
Prototyping
Hardware consultation
Animation
Graphic Production
Code development
Guidelines
Templates
Training