Imagining Greece

GROWING A DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF CULTURAL MEMORY

When partners including The American College of Greece, Greek Ministry of Tourism, The University of Sheffield and Leeds Beckett University set out to create Imagining Greece, the ambition was to build more than a website. The goal was to craft a visually rich, interactive archive that would celebrate Greece’s cultural identity, through the lens of its tourism history, design heritage and global perception.

Field were commissioned to design and develop a responsive digital platform that could house an expansive, image-led collection while remaining intuitive, engaging and accessible to a global audience.

Our approach centred on storytelling. Drawing from archival material spanning from the 1960s tourism boom to the present day, the platform is structured around four thematic journeys: Imagining, Travelling, Exploring and Remembering. Each one captures a distinct moment in the experience of Greece: from aspiration and first impressions to lived experience and nostalgia.

These journeys shape both the narrative and the interface. A bespoke design system assigns each theme its own colour palette, reflecting shifts in mood, place and perception. This creates a clear yet flexible framework that guides users through the digital archive while reinforcing the emotional arc of travel.

Visually, the platform embraces a collage-inspired aesthetic, drawing on the language of scrapbooks, postcards and travel diaries. Layered textures, film grain and print details echo the tactile quality of the original materials, ensuring the design complements – rather than competes with – the archive itself.

The homepage uses parallax motion to introduce depth and movement, inviting users into the experience and signalling the transition between each thematic journey. Navigation is intentionally intuitive yet open-ended, encouraging exploration rather than linear browsing.

Interactive tools deepen engagement. A timeline allows users to move through decades of material, revealing shifts in culture and representation over time, while a dynamic map enables exploration by region, connecting content directly to place. Together, these features transform the archive into a living, navigable landscape.

The result is a digital platform that bridges past and present. It serves as both an academic resource and an immersive experience, inviting scholars, designers and curious audiences alike to explore, reflect and reconnect with Greece through a rich and evolving visual history.