Manchester Digital Music Archive

Manchester Digital Music Archive is a community archive established in 2003 to celebrate Manchester music and its history. The archive brings together thousands of photographs, flyers, posters, recordings, stories and artefacts contributed by music fans, artists, promoters and venue owners. This archive material is creating a rich record of the region’s cultural heritage.

Working alongside designer Ashley Kennerley, I created a bold new visual identity and digital experience for the archive. I was responsible for shaping the user interface and ensuring that a vast and complex collection of content remained engaging, accessible and easy to navigate.

One of the key challenges was designing layouts that were capable of accommodating thousands of individual artefacts, personal memories, exhibitions and archive collections. The interface needed to feel visually distinctive and work properly regardless of screen size.

The result was a flexible design system that balanced strong visual storytelling with usability, allowing the archive’s content to take centre stage and providing visitors with intuitive ways to discover and explore Manchester’s musical history.

The project demonstrates how thoughtful information architecture and user-centred design can transform large, content-rich platforms into engaging and accessible digital experiences.