The Pearl Exchange 360 Virtual Tour

The Pearl Exchange is a charity based at the Old Coach House on Broadclose Hill in Bude. It supports the mental wellbeing of 18 to 35 year olds across Cornwall and Devon through free workshops, events and counselling. Walking into a new place for the first time can be the hardest part, so the tour has one job: to let people have a look around before they visit.

This is one of our bespoke 360 virtual tours, and the interface was designed from scratch for this project. It takes its cue from the charity’s own brand: loud colour, heavy type, stickers and a sense of fun. Below we walk through each feature and why it is there.

A welcome screen that sounds like the charity

The tour opens on the outside of the building, washed in the charity’s purple, with a headline that fills the screen and a single line explaining who the space is for. There are two choices: “Come on in” or “How it works”. The wording is theirs, and it sets the tone for everything that follows.

Nine scenes, each with its own colour

The tour covers nine scenes, from the street outside to the kitchen downstairs. Each scene has its own colour, which carries through to its title chip, its numbered tile and the ticker along the bottom of the screen. The scene name is set large, half solid and half outlined, with a short description underneath written in the charity’s own voice.

Numbered tiles and labelled arrows

There are two ways to move around. Round arrows inside each scene are labelled with the space they lead to, so visitors can walk through the building as they would in person. A row of numbered tiles lets them jump straight to any scene, and each tile is ticked once it has been visited, so it is easy to see what is left.

Find the stars

Eleven yellow stickers are placed around the building, each marking something worth knowing about: the communal table, the art materials, the jobs and opportunities board, the free biscuits. A counter at the top of the screen shows how many have been found, both in the current scene and across the whole tour. Opening the counter lists all eleven, and selecting one takes the visitor to it.

It turns information into a small game, which suits the audience and gives people a reason to explore every room.

Sticker cards with photos

Selecting a sticker opens a card with a title, a short note and, where it helps, a photograph. The cards sit at a slight angle with a strip of tape across the top, like something pinned to a noticeboard. They can be closed with a click or with the Esc key.

Links that lead to action

What’s on, Counselling, Find us and Donate sit in the top corner throughout, each opening the matching page of the charity’s website in a new tab. The logo opens a short card about The Pearl Exchange with the address and a link to the website. Someone who likes what they see is never more than one click from booking a workshop.

How it works

A four-step guide explains the tour to anyone who has not used one before: look around, move about, find the stars, and come and say hi. It is offered on the welcome screen and is always available from the toolbar.

Display options and accessibility

A display options panel lets visitors keep sticker labels visible, hide the stickers for a clear view, switch to larger text, or reduce motion, which stops the ticker, the wobbling stickers and auto rotate. The tour can also be used from a keyboard: arrow keys look around, plus and minus zoom, and Esc closes a card.

Sharing

The share panel offers a link to the tour, a link to the exact view on screen, the device’s own share menu, and WhatsApp, Facebook and X. The link to a view is useful for the team: they can send someone straight to the room a workshop is held in.

Designed for phones first

Most of this audience will open the tour on a phone, so the mobile layout was designed alongside the desktop one. The navigation folds into a single menu, the scene tiles become a strip that scrolls sideways, and cards rise from the bottom of the screen where a thumb can reach them. There is also a “Move your phone to look” switch, which lets visitors look around by turning the phone itself.

A tour that looks like the client, not like us

Most virtual tours share the same grey toolbar. A bespoke build means the interface can look and sound like the organisation it belongs to, and for a charity whose identity is a large part of its appeal, that matters. If you would like something similar, take a look at our bespoke virtual tours or get in touch for a quote.

Open the live tour in a new tab