Website re-design

Brief

With a massive and diverse audience, the Days Out Guide website had to be redesigned so that it could offer a great user experience and help visitors plan their journeys.

CHALLENGE

Because many users access the website on the go, for example when they are already visiting London, the design had to be made responsive for optimal user experience on any device.

The wireframing process was probably the challenging part of the design process due to the vast array of user journeys. Days Out Guide site is addressing anyone looking to plan a fun trip out and also save some money, therefore their user profiles are varied.

To really understand how users would browse the site we have conducted a user testing session to help us refine the journeys. We’ve selected a sample of 10 users with different profiles, which match the target audience. The findings have led to design changes, for example reintroducing the home button based on insight from users who were less web-savvy and struggled with returning to the homepage.

Results

Great user experiences have to be supported by a sturdy and reliable back-end, which is why the Days Out Guide was built on the latest version of Umbraco, Umbraco 7.

With attractions and deals that need to be constantly updated, Days Out Guide were in need a content management system that is intuitive, easy to use and allows content editors to work effectively.

To give their attractions and deals more visibility, the attractions content can be shared on the websites of other train operating companies, achieved through a dynamic feed.

The Days Out Guide team can also setup dynamic landing pages to promote certain regions of the country and their attractions. Each landing page comes with a pre-populated search filter to make the user’s journey more intuitive.

The site attracts weekly member signups in a large number, which is why we’ve implemented a weekly synchronisation between the CMS and the CRM.