Sovereign Hill has occupied a space in the collective consciousness of Australians for more than 50 years.
Founded by local Ballarat volunteers in 1970, this iconic organisation has grown into a diverse group of brands, including Sovereign Hill Learning, the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades, the Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections and Narmbool, alongside seasonal programs, events and on-site products.
In recent years, Sovereign Hill has undergone a period of meaningful change, re-examining its identity, culture and values while shaping a future-focused strategic plan informed by in-depth research.
The next step was to bring this direction to life through a modern, user-friendly website and a clear, consistent tone of voice framework.
Nostalgia and modernity
Sovereign Hill holds a rare level of affinity with its audiences, built over decades of shared experience. With that comes a natural tension. As the organisation evolves, it must balance the emotional pull of nostalgia with the expectations of a more modern visitor.
Research highlighted a number of challenges shaping this gap:
- Audience understanding of the breadth of the offering remains limited
- The experience is often perceived as static, with little reason to return
- Misconceptions are deeply ingrained and difficult to shift
- A continued focus on core attractions reinforces existing perceptions rather than expanding them
- The website is largely transactional, centred on ticketing rather than capturing the depth and excitement of the experience
Goals and challenges
The objective was to help Sovereign Hill better express its full value, while equipping internal teams with the tools and clarity needed to carry that identity forward.
A key challenge was addressing the perception that little changes over time. The website needed to actively surface the breadth of new experiences, from events and seasonal programming to temporary activations, making the offering feel dynamic and current.
There was also a need to engage a broader audience, including groups that had been historically overlooked. Insights from the research informed a more inclusive approach to UX and design, shaping clear, measurable goals for how the site could better meet a wider range of needs.
Simplifying the user journey
The existing experience presented a number of usability challenges, most notably around findability. Navigation lacked clarity and the underlying structure made it difficult for users to locate key information.
The approach focused on simplifying the architecture and creating a more intuitive, accessible experience. Contemporary accessibility standards informed each UX decision, ensuring the site is easier to navigate for a broader range of users.
Visual storytelling played an important role in reshaping perception. Imagery was selected to better reflect the richness of the on-site experience, capturing both the realities of the era and the ingenuity and craftsmanship that define it.
The result is a more cohesive and engaging platform that helps users quickly understand the depth of the offering, while making it simpler to explore, plan and connect with the experience.
Finding your voice
Sovereign Hill’s strength lies in the breadth of its offering, but that same diversity made it difficult to maintain a consistent tone of voice. Combined with a fast pace of change, competing priorities and fragmented messaging, there was a clear need for a more structured and unified approach.
A series of one-to-one interviews were conducted across the organisation, spanning Executive, Collections and Curatorial, Learning, Events and Programming, Rare Trades and Forgotten Arts, and Volunteers and Workplace Learning and Development.
These conversations helped surface the nuances of how the organisation speaks, creating a foundation for a tone of voice framework that is both consistent and adaptable across different teams and contexts.
These conversations were designed to capture a holistic view of the brand from across the organisation. They explored perspectives on brand personality, experiences with the existing website, expectations for the new platform and what teams needed from a tone of voice framework.
A clear pattern emerged. The personality of the brand was well understood and strongly felt, but there was a lack of structure and tools to consistently express it across written and verbal communication.
A workshop followed to unpack the interview insights and align on direction. Through a series of guided activities, personality traits were explored in more depth across departments, alongside early thinking on how the tone of voice could be applied in practice.
From this, an initial set of tone of voice guidelines was developed. This included a tonal scale, examples across key content types and a practical writing guide covering:
- Dos and don’ts
- Writing, grammar and punctuation
- Writing for web and social media
- SEO and keyword considerations
Involving representatives from across the organisation was critical. As the people responsible for applying the guidelines, their input ensured the framework was grounded, practical and easy to adopt. This led to stronger alignment across teams, reduced inconsistency in communications and a clearer, more confident expression of the brand at scale.
Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades
Alongside the core programme of work, a brand identity refresh and website were developed for the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades.
This ambitious initiative is dedicated to preserving Australia’s rare arts and trades through workshops, masterclasses, events and residencies. The identity reflects this duality, balancing a sense of heritage and craft with a more contemporary, forward-looking expression.
Launch
The new Sovereign Hill website marked a clear step forward in how the experience is presented online. Visitors can now navigate a simpler, more engaging platform, where vivid imagery and richer storytelling bring the visit to life.
“Working to produce two websites over the past 10 months has been a great experience from start to finish. The team has been accessible, super easy to work with and responsive to queries. They've been quick to address and service issues and problems working seamlessly with other third parties from digital ticketing to CRM, and they've answered all our queries as well as provided information, feedback and recommendations on so many additional things throughout. It has felt that they are truly a specialist extension of our internal team. Happy to work with and engage them again and again.”
