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!

Interim Presentation

Today was our interim presentation at uni where I presented my project to date. Having spent time working through my concept, I was a little disappointed at the feedback.

I decided that I was going to have (as part of my offering) the option for visitors to volunteer. I therefore included this as part of my main menu however this seemed to cause concern towards my brand as Blue is about 'pure adventure' and I suppose offering a volunteer service slightly changes that. I have now removed this option from my main menu.

With regards to my overall design, the feedback was that it was too corporate which I completely agree with. I am in the process of reworking my designs so that it's more in-keeping with the Blue brand.

Website: design (1)

Brand colours

Having developed the website further, I have now decided on the following palette of colours as brand colours for 'blue'.

The primary palette is what will be used on everything, they are key and by which 'blue' will be recognised. The secondary palette of colours are representative of the different trip style and will be used whenever the trip styles are present.

All of these colours are inspired by the environment. I think the green and blue in the primary palette work well together against the darker grey. I don't want 'blue' looking too corporate so by putting contrasting colours together it keeps the look fresh and contemporary.

The secondary palette are earthy colours which work well together as a group, against the primary palette and on their own. I think each colour has an emotive feel so they should work well throughout the website and any other collateral.

Optimising for best screen resolution

This was taken from the W3C website, some useful stats...

Website layout - feedback

Today I had a really interesting meeting with my tutor Hugh to discuss my website layout. Some really useful points were raised that now I need to address:

• Browser optimisation - I created the layout for 1024 x 768 however I narrowed the layout so there would be plenty of room either side however one of the points was that this room is wasted and could be used to stop the page from being too long

• The menu - does 'about us' and 'essentials' need to be there? the main focus of this website is for people to be able to book travel so the focus should be on the 'adventures' menu and possibly a 'destinations' menu as well

• The rollover buttons - how do visitors know that they are active? which is a fair point as there isn't any indication that more information is contained within it

• The idea of the trip styles being colour-coded needs to be brought into it a bit more as there isn't any indication of this at the moment

This website needs to cater for people who don't know what they want and for people who do. The slider on the home page will allow visitors to create a search personal to them however I need to also cater for visitors who do know what they want.

This is where I probably do need a separate 'destination' page because the 'adventures' area can be dedicated to the different trip styles. This will then allow visitors to either create a search from the offset or go to the 'adventures area to search by trip style or to visit the 'destinations' page where they can search by location. More work to do me thinks!

Website layout - first attempt!

This is my first attempt at designing the layout for the 'blue' website. I'm trying to keep it simple and not too cluttered.

I want visitors to be able to personalise their search so I've added a slider which will help them ask themselves key questions about what they want from their adventure. Their results will be individual to their requirements, it also gives visitors a starting point.

The images at the bottom of the screen are rollovers... each image represents a style of adventure so when a visitor rolls overs a box, information will be revealed along with a link to the relevant page.

Emotive colour palettes

As part of my branding for 'blue' I have been looking at colours and putting together palettes which have emotive meanings. I thought this could be a way of determine my branding colours or the colours I use on the website or for my promotional material.

Website wireframe

Having storyboarded my website, I have created the above wireframe for my website (the different colours represent the different trip styles available).

When I first started this project I didn't realise just how big this website would need to be however having sat down and designed the first three levels of navigation and how much information would need to be available, I now realise that a website like this would be fairly huge. Luckily I'm not intending to build it all, only a few pages to demonstrate how it would work which is just as well really!

Trip style idea

As mentioned earlier, I really like the idea of categorising trip styles as the following:

• Adventurer
• Explorer
• Adrenaline junkie
• Sun seeker
• Volunteer

Each style could also be colour-coded so when a customer chooses/reviews their package they can see the different types of adventures they have bought. It maybe that they just want to explore so their package would be one colour.

This could also work well on the website and help different between the different adventures. I need to work on this a bit more but it's an idea that I thought could work well both within the site and through promotional material.

Website - home page ideas

Now that I've finally got my name, logo and strapline sorted I can now move on to the website which is where the fun really begin!

Having spent quite a lot of time researching existing travel companies I have a few ideas for the website... first and foremost I want to keep the website looking clean and tidy as a lot of travel websites look quite busy. It's like they have so much to say to their visitors that I think they pile it all the home page. I'd like to move away from that and have a landing page that of course is informative but which also looks clean and tidy. I don't want to overload the visitor on what there is, I'd like them to find it all out by naturally moving through the website.

When a visitor lands at 'blue' they are either thinking about going travelling or they have decided to do it. 'blue' isn't about being the cheapest travel company around, it's about providing the customer with an unforgettable experience at an affordable price. 'blue' focuses on the customer and what they want to get out of their experience rather than just selling them a package deal and so the design of the website needs to reflect this. Key items will obviously need to be displayed on the home page and I need to design it so that the visitor can navigate easily through the site possibly landing where they need to in 3/4 steps.

The home page must have really strong, engaging imagery to entice customers. I think having the right imagery can go along way to visually selling what 'blue' has to offer and to also reinforce the brand as images will help set the tone and quality.

I was thinking that the home page could contain a short questionnaire that gets the customers responding to questions about what they want from their experience instead of just having a map of possible destinations that they choose from. This helps reinforce that 'blue' is about a personal experience so when the customer does complete a short questionnaire, the results they receive are then personal to them and what they want their experience to be.

Blue - final logo

Having spent the week working on my 'blue' logo, I have decided that this maybe my final design: it's simple and yet effective. I really like the typeface as it's contemporary, I think it's also memorable.

As I design my website and collateral I'm sure this logo will no doubt evolve so for the time-being I'm going to leave this as it and probably work on it further later on.

The biggest challenge with this brand is that it needs to be able to appeal to a broad audience (from students to people in retirement) so this logo needs to not only represent the brand's values but to also appeal to people in different age groups which is why I think keeping the logo simple works best.

I've chosen a purer blue that I think suits the brand. The marks at the top of the text is in grey as it's there to reflect land, air, water, movement, journey, path etc. By applying a solid colour to it I would be fixing it's meaning so by keeping it grey, it could be/represent one of many things although all to do with travel/journey.

I've decided that my strapline will be 'pure adventure' to reinforce what 'blue' is about. I need to write a mission statement as well which will also be available on the website. I think it's important to really emphasise why 'blue' is different to other travel companies.

I was thinking that a way I could develop this further is by creating a splash page on my website where (whilst the page is loading) the fluid mark changes form really quickly to emphasis it's representation/meaning. I think this could work really well and reinforce what 'blue' is all about. Just a thought!

Blue - logo roughs

Having created some rough logos for 'blue', these designs are where I'm at with it at the moment. I'd like to have a graphic that is quite fluid that accompanies the name. At the moment I'm just playing around with marks that represent movement, travel, journey. I don't think I'm quite there though, these logos need more work. Neither of the typefaces are quite right.

As 'blue' represents purity I think the brand colours need to also reflect this so I need to work a bit more on my colour palette. The logo needs to be right as I need people to engage with it, I don't think either of these would do the job so back to the drawing board...

Blue?

So I had a meeting today at uni where we were discussing names for our project, I put forward 'Blue Spirit' with some rough logos ideas and the feedback was that maybe I should try 'Blue' instead. Initially I wasn't sure but the more I think about it, I quite like it. 'Blue' can represent many things, one of which is 'purity'. 'Blue' also lends it's self well to the environmental elements such as sea or air which is perfect for a website relating to travel.

Next step now is to put together some logos ideas, let the designing begin...!

Bluespirit - logo roughs

Above are a couple of logo designs I did for 'Blue Spirit'. I want to include some kind of graphic or feel that represents travel, no cliches though. The plane in the second logo would not be used, I just wanted to demonstrate my idea.

Need a name, any name...

I'm still trying to come up with a good name for my gap-year travel company and I'm find it quite difficult because everything I come up with just doesn't sound right. At the moment I'm thinking 'Blue Spirit'... the idea being that blue represents purity and spirit well represents the spirit of adventure. Too obvious? maybe but I quite like it.

I'm also trying to decide how best to approach the website as I don't want it looking like anything else that currently exists. Maybe the focus should be on the style of adventure instead of just having an arbitrary map that people click on. The different types of adventures which I can think of are:

• Adventurer
• Explorer
• Adrenaline Junky
• Eco Warrior
• Chilled out (although I need a better name for this!)

Of course there needs be be an option to 'pix n'mix' so that customers can have a bit of everything if they so wish. I think an 'inspire me' would be good as well. I guess I also need to include single, couple and group travel as well or do I? hmmm...

What's in a name...

OK, so having spent the majority of the week trawling through websites etc in the name of research I'm now trying to come up with a suitable name that reflects the brand. Some ideas so far:

• Globe Trotter
• Globe Hopper
• Trail Explorer
• Planet Trekker
• Trail Blazer
• Trip Trouper

You can see where I'm going with this... I was thinking something snappy that reflects the business. The only problem though is that maybe it's too predictable. There are so many Internet companies out there that pop up with funky names but which could easily disappear tomorrow so I want something that has longevity and which reflects quality and trust.

Hmmmm... think it's back to the drawing board!

Deliverables

My main deliverable will be a website which the business will operate through however I'm thinking that there should be a complimentary app that customers can download once they have purchased a travel package. This app will provide useful information that will help people when they are travelling.

I would also like to produce supporting collateral such as a brochure/e-brochure, web banner and maybe an eco-pack which customers will receive before they go off travelling. If time permits, I could also put together an online/offline marketing campaign however I might be pushing it!

This company needs to be engaging. There are so many existing travel companies out there already and so it's difference really needs to come through.

What to do...

One of my passions is travel and so for my final major project I have decided to create a travel brand that specialises in eco-friendly gap-year/career-break travel. This company will offer worldwide tailormade travel packages & volunteer programs aimed in particluar to 3-key markets which include students who have graduated and want to take some time-out before starting their career, career-minded individuals wishing to take a break from their career and for the mature who have perhaps retired.

Travel broadens the mind and so with that in mind, this company will be about providing customers with unique travel opportunities that encourages them to step away from what they know to venture into the unknown and the unexpected. In short, this company will provide exceptional, diverse and unique eco-friendly travel alternatives at affordable prices.