Behind the craft: creating the gold standard for Longleat

We’ve managed to win gold in the Digital Design / UI category of the BIMAs two years running: in 2024 for the Royal Navy and in 2025 for Longleat. 

With projects of this size often taking many months to evolve from discovery to launch (even longer if you include the process of winning the work), there is rarely any time to ease off.  

We wanted to understand more of what it takes to repeat the success, so we caught up with our Creative Director, Matt Powell, to gain some insights into Longleat and how Great State carry the winning mindset from one brief to the next.  

This is the story behind the craft – over to you Matt.

A legendary day out, a modest website

Longleat is exactly the kind of brand we love working with; rich legacy, huge emotional equity, and a physical experience visitors remember for years. But digitally, it was underselling itself. 

A day at Longleat can include a visit to the stately home, drive-through safari, boat trip, maze and up-close animal encounters – all wrapped in unique history and pioneering personality. In the real world it is the ‘OG’ of safari parks on a grand scale. In the digital world however, it looked and acted like a mid-size attraction. 

The website’s typography, image scale and colour palette subliminally suggested to users that this was ordinary, not extraordinary. Add in complex ticket offering (with the festival of light, VIP experiences and special events) plus a series of frustrating usability issues, and the digital experience was creating hesitancy right where Longleat needed confidence most: at checkout. 

The job was clear: bring the magic of a day out into the online experience, and you will convert considerers into visitors.

Getting under the skin of Longleat

We didn’t start in creative tools. We started on foot. 

The team walked the estate, talked to everyone from lemur keepers to the sweet shop manager, and listened to visitors as they came off rides and out of cafés. The way people described their day, “phenomenal”, “unforgettable”, “legendary”, became our emotional benchmark. 

We then spoke to customers to understand the digital friction: 

• Confusion about what’s included in the ticket.
• Uncertainty about whether it’s a full day out.
• A gap in expectation between price and perceived value.

At the same time, we worked closely with our engineering team. While they focused on a new, bulletproof headless stack, the creative team focused on a digital brand and experience that could genuinely convert and delight. 

Only once we understood the human reality – the stories, the doubts, the excitement – did we start shaping the proposition. 

Introducing "The Home of..."

Longleat is the pioneer of safari parks, though in the digital world original can risk sounding old-fashioned. 

Our creative proposition, “The Home of…”, was designed to reclaim that status with confidence and scale. It does three important jobs.  

First, it reasserts authority. Longleat isn’t just a place with animal. It’s The Home of… Big Adventures; Close Encounters; Loveable Characters. A host, not a commodity. Next, it organises complexity as these three pillars gives structure to the multi-layered offer. Every piece of content has a natural home. And finally, it unlocks Longleat’s treasure trove of content. It was a proposition that could power an end-to-end customer journey, not just a homepage. 

A visual language as big as the day out 

With the proposition locked, we turned to the craft. Key to this was how Big Adventures, Close Encounters and Loveable Characters could be brought to life in the look and feel. 

Our first step was to establish some of the fundamental building blocks like colour and font. Our pitch visuals bore an uncanny similarity to a colour palette Longleat themselves were developing in-house, so we were able to get on the same wavelength instantly.  

Deep greens and rich purples were paired with peaches and bright oranges, reflecting how Longleat is at once both a stately home and an amazing day out for children of all ages. 

Typography followed this pattern. Nib, a modern serif based on stone-cut lettering, was paired with Hoss, an expressive sans with big personality. Used together, they gave us the same uniqueness you feel in the grounds: noble but playful, confident but welcoming. 

Crucially, this collaboration ensured that the digital experience carried seamlessly through to signage, maps and menus – so the journey from screen to estate feels continuous and seamless – the same standard you’d expect from major attraction brands like Disney.

Getting closer through imagery and motion

User testing confirmed what we suspected: images are king, and the lion is the king of content. 

We centred the experience around intimate, expressive animal photography. Close-ups that show personality and curiosity, not just stock creature images. This does real work: it differentiates Longleat from a traditional zoo, gets pulses racing, and reassures visitors about animal welfare.  

We also drew a hard line on artificiality. For this brand, AI-enhanced imagery tanked trust. So, the new experience is proudly, deliberately real. Every whisker and paw print is from the park itself. We then framed the pages with jungle foliage – not only another feature we noticed when walking the park, but it also lent an additional sense of exploration, discovery and adventure to every page. 

To mirror how people consume content nowadays, we advocated short-form video stories for the experience. Styled like social media, they show behind-the-scenes care, conservation work and staff personalities – while being efficient to produce and easy to reuse across channels.

Characters that move with you

The magic needed to land instantly on the homepage. A dynamic masthead welcomes visitors to “The Home of…” their next big adventure, backed by immersive visuals that hint at the breadth of the day it offers. 

Scroll, and animated animals of some of Longleat’s cheekiest residents pop up – meerkats peeking through foliage, lemurs hanging from branches – lightly guiding users deeper into the site. There aren’t throwaway flourishes; they anchor navigation, soften key decisions and keep the experience feeling alive right through to checkout.

Craft that converts

Great UI isn’t just about looking good. It’s about reducing cognitive load and building trust at the exact moments people are most likely to switch off. So, we had to think smart. 

We introduced: 

• Day planner: A simple, visual planner shows everything included in a standard ticket, replacing confusion with a satisfying sense of a full, memory-packed day. 
• Social proof and stories: Visitor quotes, staff spotlights and unforgettable moments are placed where they can nudge behaviour – not just at the bottom of the page where they’re easy to ignore. 
• Clearer ticketing: Visual differentiation between ticket options helps families choose quickly and confidently, rather than wonder what they might be missing. 

Behind the scenes, the new headless architecture gives Longleat a long-term platform for experimentation and optimisation – and resilience where it really matters.

Heritage brands welcome digital-first visitors

Longleat is the kind of opportunity that excites us - a cherished brand with enduring relevance, held back only by an outdated digital experience.

By grounding our craft in real human insight, re-framing the story around “The Home of…”, and obsessing over every detail – from type weight to image crop to the colour of a button – we’ve helped Longleat show up online with the confidence it’s always had offline. 

The result? A digital experience that finally feels worthy of the day out itself – and a BIMA gold to prove that thoughtful, visitor-centred craft still matters.

Why not check out the website in action? We can’t promise you won’t end up treating yourself to a day out though: https://www.longleat.co.uk/.  And, if you’re a brand wrestling with a not-so-legendary website, we’d love to talk. Reach out to us on hello@greatstate.co.