Built upon an enormous collection of Australian immigration records, the website aims to provide visitors with information about their ancestry and pre-Australian origins. Users are also invited to contribute information and imagery of their own, allowing the website to become an increasingly valuable resource over time.

The brand identity takes its initial inspiration from samples of original ship voyage tickets. Combining the distinctive grid and multi-directional design style of these old tickets with a modern typography and colour treatment, this brand identity communicates the mixture of old world and new that defines this project.

The Passengers in History website has been designed with user experience at its centre. Given the scope of immigration records available on the site — over 300,000 passenger records available, and growing — the user interface is designed to provide the desired information with the greatest ease and expediency. As the site continues to grow over time, it has been given the structure at this foundational level to ensure that information remains similarly accessible.

In addition to the Passengers in History brand identity and website, we designed a number of promotional materials, including pull-up banners, invites and pamphlets. We have also worked in collaboration with the client to deliver a social media strategy for the promotion of the website, including a number of number of pre-devised social media posts and images, and a comprehensive strategy and easy-to-use templates for devising new content moving forward.

Passengers in History was given its ceremonial launch in early 2016 by South Australia’s governor Hieu Van Le. Using the groundwork laid by Simple, the client is now in the process of expanding the website’s scope and audience.