Mind Unit works on postal archive website

Appointed in October following a competitive tender, Mind Unit was asked to create a digital showcase for the museum’s collection and design an effective channel to drive footfall to the venue when it opens.

An online catalogue will show the museum’s catalogue of stamps, postal objects and records, and feature an online shop as well as video and audio streaming.

Plans will be set out to evolve the site so it can engage visitors through social media and other interactive channels when the museum opens. The planned launch date for the website is spring 2011.

Ian Budden says that philatelists are ‘a committed audience, such a passionate group of people. We need to bring them together through social networking activity and engage new audiences before the building is opened.’ The museum will draw on the resources of the former National Postal Museum and the Royal Mail Archive collections.

The museum is being designed by architect Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, which will restore and regenerate the Grade II-listed building – formerly the Great Western Railway chain-testing works.