Final Home Pages

Blue Community - Final Design

The Blue Community section of the site has been designed so that's it's not only engaging but so that it has a completely different look and feel to the Sales part of the website. I wanted this site to still be quite streamlined but in a more ad hoc way. I have purposely used contrasting colours to give it a wilder feel.

As the main sales website is mainly blue and green, I thought the opposite colours (red and yellow) would work really well. The brand's primary palette (blue, green and brown) can still be found within the Community area as this is the thread that makes it consistent with the main sales website. The vibrancy of the colours hopefully help it to be memorable and exciting to use.

I have also used a far more informal set of typefaces within this site however Lucida Grande is still the font used for the main text. The images are a lot less formal and consist more of photos taken from travellers, this helps contribute to the overall look and fell which I was wanting to achieve.

I have kept the map as the background as, although it is a cliche, it does help to convey to people it's purpose.

A full set of visuals for both the Blue Sales website and the Blue Community website can be found within my final presentation.

Blue Community - Travellers Page

Blue Community - Profile Page

Blue Community - Home

Ideas

The following are ideas I had for the Blue Community site:

• User must sign up for an a/c
• Traveller photo competition
• Travel blogs
• Gallery
• Tweets
• Articles from travel experts
• Videos
• Forum
• Pic of the week
• Blog of the week
• Travel diary
• Travel planner
• Blue Buddy scheme - social events
• Interactive map showing where travellers are going so other travellers are able to follow them

The purpose of this area to primarily engage with customers and to get travellers engaging with each other.

Blue Community

Now that the Sales part of the website has been designed, I was thinking about how I could evolve the Blue brand so that it has a wider offering. Another 'strength to it's bow' could come through the Community-side of the website.

The Community part of the website could focus more on customer engagement as part of the travelling experience is about the people you meet and share experiences with. Blue could dedicate part of their website to this so that people can upload blogs and discuss things in a forum.

The main website is very streamlined, the photos would be professionally done and everything has been placed in a position for maximum impact. The Community part could perhaps be less-formal, it would need to be warm and welcoming and easy enough so that anyone could use. I was thinking that instead of customers booking travel and then getting a blog site on another website, Blue would offer that as well.

This approach would also lend its self well to blue being able to engage with its customers. Perhaps they could have their own email system whereby Blue could email them about promotions, new trips, new relating to where they are travelling to or evening just to organise social get-togethers.

This would definitely reinforce the brand as Blue is about the personal touch and showing that they care about their customers.

Responsible travel page

Adventure / Destinations Page

This is the explorer landing-page from the 'adventures' menu. It is the first page that visitors land on when they search for 'explorer' type travel. The colours reflect this style of adventure.

This is the landing-page from the 'destinations' menu. This allows visitors to search by destination. The map is interactive and hopefully engaging enough for visitors to want to use!

The images below reflect the different continents and will be constantly changing in order to keep the page fresh and interesting.

About Us Page

Home - results page

Evolving the design

Looking at the design of Blue to date, it looks very streamlined which I don't mind however I think it looks too tidy so I have been working on the design more so that it reflects the nature of what it's selling.

The rough edges reflected the rough terrain however this is open to interpretations. I like how it gives the design more character, it makes the page more interesting. I have also curved the corners of the images to reflect the curves in the logo. I also think it adds to the aesthetic of the design and makes them slightly different.

I've also decided to include a map on the background. It's a bit cliche but I think it works. It makes the layout more interesting and although it is a stream-lined look, there is still a lot on the page but I think the way it's laid out won't overwhelm visitors.

New strapline

So taking on board Vince's comment about my strapline, I have decided to take his advice and work on it a bit more. I have now come up with 'pure adventure, unlimited possibilities'.

I think this reinforces the brand more and works well with the logo.

My strapline

Today I met with Vince to discuss my project. It's the first time he has seen it so it was good to get some fresh feedback by someone who has seen it for the first time. His feedback was very positive however one of the things that he mentioned was my strapline; he didn't feel that it captured my brand fully and that I should reinforce the values of my brand more.

I do like 'pure adventure' however he does have a point and so I will try and come up with an alternative.... back to the drawing board!