Zip Technologies × Jamaica National Heritage Trust

Design Workshop

Three distinct directions for the new JNHT website. Each represents a different answer to the question: what should JNHT feel like online?

Direction A

Institutional Elegant

Scholarly warmth. Like aged paper and polished wood. A typographic hero with "1958" as a massive watermark — no hero image. Single-column layout, vertical property lists, chapter-numbered sections. This site reads like an authoritative reference document.

"Pure typographic hero — no image, just the weight of history"

Explore this direction

Palette

#6B2D14
#1C1917
#B8860B
#F4F0E8

Typography

Playfair Display + Source Serif 4 + Spline Sans Mono

References

National Trust UK, English Heritage

Direction B

Bold Cultural

Caribbean energy. Diagonal-split hero with Taíno-inspired geometric patterns. Bold color blocking (yellow, green, black, teal, coral). Masonry property grid, floating pill navigation, animated stat counters. This site pulses.

"Diagonal compositions and Jamaican flag colors — unmistakably Caribbean"

Explore this direction

Palette

#009B3A
#FCC72C
#E85D3A
#0A7E8C

Typography

Bricolage Grotesque + Nunito Sans

References

Heritage New Zealand, Jamaican national identity

Direction C

Clean Government Modern

Cinematic restraint. Full-viewport parallax images with hidden navigation. Text reveals on scroll. 80% white space. One accent color (terracotta) used so sparingly it's electric when it appears. Alternating full-bleed image bands instead of cards.

"Hidden nav, parallax hero, extreme white space — a photography book"

Explore this direction

Palette

#111111
#C4501A
#F5F5F0
#FFFFFF

Typography

Instrument Serif + Inter Tight + DM Sans

References

National Geographic editorial, NPS.gov

Things to discuss

Questions for our conversation after you've explored the three directions.

Reactions

  • In one word, how does each style make you feel?
  • Which one feels most like JNHT?
  • Which one would you be most proud to show the Minister?
  • Is there anything across all three that you actively dislike?

Priorities

The new site can do many things — property listings, interactive maps, online shop, HDRC applications, news & events, virtual tours, volunteer signup, donations, research resources, job postings. If it could only do three of those really well, which three matter most to JNHT?

Content

  • Does JNHT have professional photography of the heritage sites?
  • Who will be updating the site day-to-day after launch?

The current site

  • What's the one thing about jnht.com today that frustrates you most?
  • What do visitors ask for that the current site can't do?

Workshop prototype by Zip Technologies Ltd. · Not for public distribution.