IWM What Lies Beneath

The Imperial War Museum is dedicated to commemorating the history of conflict and wartime life from the First World War to the present day.

The What Lies Beneath project was designed to reveal Britain’s experiences of Cold War life by providing engaging and interactive exhibitions on the history of the conflict, its realities, and its legacy.

The Imperial War Museum intended the What Lies Beneath project to be a visually exciting and informative venture which would encourage interactivity and engagement with a wealth of material. Box UK were required to develop a site which could meet these criteria, and which would also seamlessly integrate with the museum’s main site.

A key requirement for the site was accessibility; to reach the maximum amount of people, Box UK needed to provide an alternative version of the site which ensured availability for users operating on lower specification hardware. 

Box UK’s User Experience team began by working closely with the IWM to ensure the site provided clear layouts and engaging user journeys. We developed and managed the What Lies Beneath site using our Amaxus^® Content Management System for seamless integration into the IWM main site.

Multimedia elements were incorporated into the site along with a Zoom tool to provide an immersive user experience. The site navigation was developed using flash-player menus and elements to encourage interactivity. However, to cater for users working with non flash-enabled technology, an alternative version of the site was developed to provide access to the collection to as many people as possible. 

The What Lies Beneath site encourages visitors to navigate by interacting with themes and exploring personal stories, and the IWM can continue to add to the site to ensure that the public have a comprehensive understanding of this fascinating period of British history.

We are proud to have worked on such an important project, and hope to continue our relationship with the IWM.