Users’ expectations continue to rise with commonplace web apps and sites such as Gmail, Facebook and Pinterest pushing the norm in terms of sophisticated interactivity. Mega travel sites like Booking.com and Expedia, with their huge teams of designers, researchers and UI engineers are constantly resetting the bar in terms of what users expect of search, comparison, rich content, and recommendation.
So it is no surprise that the design briefs and invitations-to-tender that go out to web agencies like Zolv, are getting longer and more detailed; requiring social, responsive, merchandising, personalisation, SEM, post-booking concierge, and specialist tech integrations. And of course, everything must be future-proof and easy to update.
With so many more points of integration, more complex relationships between products and content, and more user interactions to consider, let alone refine and optimise, designing a modern travel website can no longer be the oeuvre of a single designer drawing on creative inspiration alone
Looking at several common design methodologies and concluding with 5 key considerations when writing a design brief and assembling a design team, this white paper makes the case for a pragmatic and multi-disciplinary approach to modern, travel web design.