Field were commissioned to create a web-based interactive archive with a global audience, with an emphasis on a visually rich, image-led archival website that celebrates Greece, it’s promotional visual communications, as well as the designers, artists, architects, organisations and governing bodies behind this vast library.

Developed in partnership with the American College of Greece, The Greek Ministry of Tourism, The University of Sheffield, Leeds Beckett University, the platform curates Greece’s identity through the lens of its 1960s tourism boom through to the modern day. Anchored in storytelling and layered with tactile visual textures, Imagining Greece becomes not just an archive, but a vivid reawakening of how Greece was once dreamed, discovered, and remembered.

This living archive serves as a vital academic resource, exploring how Greek identity has been represented and reimagined across borders, particularly through the lens of the Greek diaspora. Its legacy is a dynamic, open-access platform for scholars, designers, and curious minds worldwide to get lost in decades of beautiful materials.

Thematic Journeys

Drawing from archival collections, the project aimed to take visitors on a journey through the experience of visiting Greece through four thematic journeys:

Imagining - an invitation to dream through stylised posters, articles and promotional films, capturing a romantic and aspirational view of Greece.

Arriving – exploring travellers' first moments of discovery, from the transport that brought them, to airport signage, early hotel experiences, and wayfinding ephemera. It's about the transition from expectation to reality.

Exploring - a deep dive into the local experience. Streetscapes, beach scenes, village festivals, and candid snapshots revealed the textures of daily life and discovery of Greek culture.

Remembering - capturing the nostalgia, reflecting how these moments were captured and remembered, exploring photo albums, travelogues, and government archives

Design Systems

To create a visually unifying experience, we developed a custom design system that assigns distinct color pairings to each thematic journey. These palettes are reflective of both the physical environments and emotional states associated with each phase of travel. Each colour system was selected to represent – physically and visually – a traveller’s journey to Greece. For the typographic approach, we used Literata, universally across both English and Greek characters, providing a consistent design experience.

Creative Direction

The visual identity embraces a collage-based aesthetic, drawing inspiration from scrapbooks, postcards, and travel diaries. Every design decision, from 35mm grain textures to vintage print vignettes was made to bring to life the tactile nature of the collection. Each visual element is consciously considered to complement the real archival materials.

The homepage parallax design gave a sense of movement and depth, highlighting the transition between the four thematic journeys. Each transition invites users to delve deeper into the layered narrative of Greece as seen, felt, and remembered.

Interactive Features

Navigation is designed to feel intuitive yet exploratory - the current archive includes a collection of over 579 items, including photography, posters, brochures, and video reels. The interactive timeline allows users to explore items by year, navigating the socio-cultural shifts across decades. The interactive map allows users to browse geographically to uncover content by region or locale in a dynamic way.

Imagining Greece is more than a digital archive - it's a curated sensory experience that blurs the line between memory and discovery, combining historical materials with a modern design approach. The project not only preserves cultural memory but reanimates it, allowing a new generation to explore, reflect, and connect with Greece as a destination. Whether arriving for the first time or remembering from afar, Imagining Greece offers a poetic, personal, and beautifully crafted journey through place and time.

External Links
https://imagininggreece.com