Exterior of the National Library of Australia with two large vertical Trove campaign banners.Exterior of the National Library of Australia with two large vertical Trove campaign banners.

National Library of Australia – Trove

Collective Wonder

Impact area

Empowering people

Services

Brand strategy and design

Trove is a vast digital ‘treasure trove’ of Australian history and story, to be explored and enjoyed, from part-time hobbyists to PhD scholars and students alike.

A collaboration between almost 1,000 Australian cultural institutions and the National Library of Australia, Trove is part aggregator, collections host, platform for research and contributing community.

Trove provides free access to a remarkable variety of digitised cultural artefacts, and metadata to find them physically, from institutions such as libraries, museums, universities to local historical societies.

Rich with information and complex in its systems, Trove had grown well beyond its original purpose. It had remained unchanged – in brand, proposition, visual or user experience – since its inception, over a decade ago.

Trove needed a new shared vision, brand strategy and architecture, to inform a refreshed brand expression – visual and verbal – complimenting a modernised user experience.

‘Collective wonder’ is the brand idea behind the expression. Acknowledging and celebrating the wealth of contributors and the reward and delight Trove brings.

Six variations of the Trove logo displayed across a grid of bright background colours including blue, green, orange, yellow and purple.
Person carrying an orange tote bag with the Trove campaign word ‘WOW’ printed in large purple type and the tagline ‘One key is all you need, enter.’
Trove homepage displayed on a laptop, showing the search bar, featured stories, and editorial content.
Green Trove campaign graphic with the headline ‘History is our biggest treasure.’ beside the large word ‘UNLOCK’ featuring a keyhole in place of the ‘O.’
Photo of colourful beach huts with a white smartphone outline overlay and the headline ‘Wonder. Full.’ in the center, representing the Trove brand experience.

The interaction design elements bring the product experience to life, creating moments of delight and surprise for all users.

Three Trove website screens displayed on tablets showing search results, a collection page for ‘Building the Opera House,’ and a book detail page for ‘The journals of Captain James Cook.’
Four colourful Trove brand tiles featuring campaign phrases: ‘The fast and the curious,’ ‘The time machine of our lives,’ ‘Lose yourself finding yourself,’ and ‘Do some delight reading.’
Street pole banner with the Trove keyhole symbol and the tagline ‘One key is all you need, enter.’
Three Trove Instagram post mockups displayed on smartphones, each using Trove’s colourful campaign system and featuring historical imagery and storytelling captions.Large painted silos featuring portraits of Indigenous Australians, overlaid with the word ‘EMPOWER’ in white with the Trove keyhole underline.
Series of three Trove campaign posters.
Person standing on stairs holding a large Trove poster featuring an illustration of a sprinter on a running track, with the headline ‘Search. Uncover. Australia.’The Trove Partners logo displayed on a purple background.