Spectacular NWT
UX Design — UI Design
— CLIENT
Northwest Territories Tourism + Outcrop Communications
via Domain7
— MY ROLES
UX Designer
UI Designer
— TIMELINE
4 months
Apr 2021-Sept 2021
— TOOLS
Sketch
Miro
InVision
Northwest Territories Tourism (NWTT) is a not-for-profit organization, responsible for over 200 tourism business members in the Northwest Territories.
The main purpose of the entire website is to inspire and encourage folks to visit the spectacular Northwest Territories and all that it has to offer. I was responsible for a section of the website for pre-planned itineraries.
PROBLEM
For this design project, there were two specific problems to solve for:
1) The current itineraries pages were not engaging enough. So, how might we evoke inspirational storytelling?
2) The current itineraries pages don’t showcase all the amazing attractions the Northwest Territories has to offer. So, how might we expose different attractions in a palatable way?
GOAL
The major goals of the re-design was to both increase the overall engagement on the itineraries pages and to highlight alternative all-inclusive package options to increase conversion there.
AUDIENCE
There were 3 core audiences for this project:
- 1) 50+ year olds who are fit, adventurous, and well-travelled
- 2) 30-40 year olds who are thrill seekers, adventurous, and nature lovers
3) 60+ year olds that prefer guided tours and are extending family visits in the NWT
PROCESS
During the discovery part of the project, I reviewed and analyzed some client references and other competitors within the market. I, then, outlined user flows.
I analyzed the current layout of the itineraries pages. As you can see on the left side of the slide, it was mostly just photos stacked on top of copywriting with links, which isn’t super engaging and doesn’t have any clear information architecture.
Part of the discovery phase was also having collaborative conversations with the client and the developer to uncover directions that they had in mind already. Based on those conversations, I drew up 3 different options for layouts to 1) evoke inspirational storytelling and 2) expose different attractions more easily.
After designing hi-fi mocks from the wireframes and before delivery to client, I conducted and analyzed guerrilla usability testing to validate designs with users.
DESIGN RATIONALE
Three key considerations helped me arrive at the final designs:
1) Increasing engagement with page levels
I divided the pre-planned itineraries page into two levels to optimize organization, increase engagement, and minimize overwhelm to the user.
The purpose of the first level was to showcase a list of itineraries whereby the user is able to filter and search for relevant activities, regions, and seasons.
The purpose of the second level was to surface really important information at the top of the page and section the itinerary into days with different activities.
2) Visual Consistency
To maintain consistency with recently updated branding and visual direction of other areas of the site, I created a mini design system within the Sketch file. This allowed me to quickly update iterations across the pages and devices as well as set myself and other designers for future work.
3) Package marketing
Highlighting the all-inclusive packages on the pre-planned itineraries page spoke directly to the tertiary audience interested in guided tours and tied back to the project goals of increasing conversion for package sales.
It was important that the package cards stood out as visually different from the rest of the page, allowed the user to toggle between season options, and surfaced essential information to entice users to go to the full packages listings.
RESULTS
The client was excited about the designs and positive working relationships were established with both Northwest Territories Tourism and Outcrop Communications.
REFLECT
At the beginning of the project, there was a lot of ambiguity of what the goals and measurements of success were, as well as a lack of timely response from a number of stakeholders. So, I leaned on a lot of my soft skills that I've build over the decades. I asked a lot of probing questions throughout the process to help coach the client to more clarity and I made sure to communicate progress and assumptions that I made in order to keep the project moving along the timeline.