Airship travel, art and discourse

"We believe that inviting, interdisciplinary and inspiring participation and information offerings will enable us to present the discourse and dialog surrounding the topics of the Zeppelin Museum in the digital world in a sustainable way." This sentence was the result of our kick-off workshop for the relaunch project at www.zeppelin-museum.de. And it has become significant on several levels.

Another keyword is not even in the text: Accessibility. It was a given from the outset and played an important role in all conceptual and design decisions - which meant that no compromises had to be made.

The relaunch enables visitors with different abilities to enjoy and use the content equally. An inclusive user interface ensures barrier-free interaction for people with visual, auditory, motor and cognitive impairments. Checked and tested in collaboration with our friends, the Sozialheld:innen.

In general, it was about communicating the fascinating world of zeppelins, art and debates. Because this museum is special. The permanent exhibition on airship travel is complemented by a classic art collection (mainly by old masters from the region). This is complemented by a temporary exhibition with a variety of themes. Drones, networking, abstraction, crossing borders (in the literal sense), literature, the future, mines, crypto - and from May 2024: gaming. Great.

The decision to choose HENKELHIEDL as a project partner (not just for the website relaunch) was made in October 2023 when the Zeppelin Museum was looking for an agency to conceive, design and implement an accessible, flexible and sustainable website. The museum attached particular importance to a flexible content management system that would enable future developments.

We were able to score points here with our expertise in accessibility and SEO and a headless approach in conjunction with the CMS Strapi.(More about the advantages of Strapi.) All options are open for future playout channels, such as the museum app or partner portals.

The Zeppelin Museum's website is more than just a source of information - it is an interactive experience that invites everyone to playfully explore the museum's diverse content. Inspired by the architecture of the harbor station, the design is modern, timeless and inviting at the same time. Thanks to the clear structure and intuitive user interface, visitors can navigate quickly and easily through the various areas and plan their visits, discover programs or switch to an explorative mode.

Sustainability was another important aspect of our project. We took care to reduce the museum's digital carbon footprint in both the design and the technical implementation. By keeping data consumption low and running the website on green electricity, we are helping to support the museum's sustainability strategy and make a positive contribution to the environment. This also applies to the sustainability of the code: From atomic design, to strict implementation in modules that can also be used in subsequent microsites, for example, it is above all the headless approach that provides a flexible basis for the future that can be used for a long time to come.  

This fantastic relaunch of the website is the start of what we hope will be a long-lasting process of working together as equals - further sub-projects will follow in the course of 2024.