Puja Khurana PDP 401 Design for Business: Air Share
CONTENT
A
CLIENT BRIEF
B
OBSERVE Stakeholders Customer Journey Map Industry Research Touchpoints & Painpoints Interviews and Casestudies Research Survey Literature Review Site visit
C
REFLECT
Project Proposal Proposition Development Opportunity Area Final Brand Proposition Market Study & Research Branding Direction Competitive Audit Personas Competitive Audit Brand Mission Brand Vision Personas Brand Attributes Tone of Voice Naming the Airline The ‘Hyphen’ Story
D MAKE
Visual Brain Dump Journal Iterations Hyphen Concept 1 Hyphen Concept 2 Final Hyphen Concept Color Palette Hyphen Website In-flight Menu Check-out Card Branding: Paper cups Branding: Sicnkess bags Branding: Coasters Branding: Trays Brand Manual
E
REVIEW Exhibition 1
Client Seminar 1 Client Seminar 2 Seminar 3 Final Client Seminar
F
CREDITS Reflection Blblography
A
This is the inception of the project from an exquisite brief given by TATA Elxsi to help our dreams take-off into the airline world. This design brief was more than challenging. It opened realms of possibilites and gave us infinite space to run our minds into.
CLIENT BRIEF
AIR SHARE: IDEAS TAKE WINGS
TATA Elxsi’s project proposal was essentially about launching an airline in India within the domestic sector. Even though launching an airline in the current market would simple, the project’s goal was to create a brand positioning, developing the brand, the message it would hold, defining the audience and designing beyond the obvious: creating an experience for the travellers rather than just ‘another’ airline in the market. That being said, there were a lot of questions that the project proposal posed. Keeping this challenging brief in mind, project Air Share began in July, 2014.
How will this new airline succeed in the market? What is the scale of the airline? How can one make it simple, yet relevant? What is the Unique Selling Point? Can it still affect the customers at the same level when he or she travels for the 100th time with the same airline?
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a page from client’s brief presentation
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B
This the section where we analysed, researched and studied in all breadth, depth and openness to understand various scenarios. This is the part where we enquired to discover new areas of interest and potential to take forward into something bigger.
OBSERVE
STAKEHOLDERS
The people who are directly or indirectly affected by or linked to a certain industry are known as Stakeholders. These stakholders affect the working as well as service standards of the industry they are related to and vice versa. As for the airline industry, the stakeholders include not just the passengers, but also the government, investors, suppliers, employees and everyone in between.
1 design tool that is used to understand the stakeholders involved and affected by a service or an industry
The stakeholders of an airline can broadly be categorised into Passengers, Service Providers and Airline Staff. These categories try to cover everybody who may directly or indirectly affect the airline industry. The stakeholders aren’t the only ones that affect the airline industry, but there are a lot of other factors that affect the industry, which were studied using other design tools.
As a service design tool, the use of a Stakeholder map1 has been made to map in detail the stakeholders linked to the airline industry.
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CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP
When the term ‘customer’ is used here, a traveller who may use air transport as a mode of travelling is addressed. Customers or passengers, are key to any industry. The airline industry witnesses different types of travellers who belong to not just different countries and communities, but also various socio, economic and political backgrounds. They widely differ in age and have varied needs. The challenge lies in catering to travellers in an effective way to make them come back to your services and airline.
2 service design tool used to understand the interactions and processes undergone by a customer and documented as a map
A Customer journey map2 is used to understand what processes and interactions (with the service, staff or technology) a traveller goes through when he chooses to travel by air.
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customer journey map for pre-flight journey
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INDUSTRY RESEARCH
3 service design tool widely used in analysing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a particular body or service
4 service design tool commonly used to understand political, economical, social, technological and environmental factors affecting a scenario
The research began with studying about the airline industry in all breadth and depth. It required the usage of service design tools like SWOT Analysis3 and PESTE Analysis4 to understand about the industry thoroughly. The areas of research varied from domestic markets to factors affecting the airline industry to the government body and other international factors like fuel pricing that may directly or indirectly affect them. SWOT Analysis was used to understand where Indigo Airline and Spicejet stand in the Indian airline market while PESTE Analysis was used to analyse the internal, external and other types of factors that directly or indirectly affect the airline industry and to what extent.
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TOUCHPOINTS
A sensory interaction between a customer and a service, brand or product at a given time, which results in a reaction or perception of the service, brand or product, is referred to as a Touchpoint. Touchpoints are made at almost every step of any process for not just the customer but also the service provider. The idea behind mapping touchpoints was to note the interaction areas of customers with the service provider, service, brand or products at any given time to identify not just opportunity areas but also problem areas and act upon them.
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PAINPOINTS
Painpoints are crucial in understanding the loop holes and problem areas that customers come across. These can be used to not just understand critical issues, but also to develop upon and create opportunity areas to make customers’ journey seamless. The aim was to identify pain points at every step in a customer’s journey right from making the decision to booking an airline ticket upto reaching the final destination. These points will further act as a starting point to initiate projects and designs to make the airline journey seamless.
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INTERVIEWS & CASE STUDIES
With Kala Nair
Harvard review on Southwest Airline
Even though one can rely on internet sources, books, articles and other mediums for information, but interviewing people who have a first-hand experience as a service provider is always more insightful. Not only are you enlightened by facts, but also by different perspectives and experiential inisghts.
The review on the world’s largest low-cost carrier, Southwest Airline, was carried in class by Srishti faculty, Mr. Pithamber. The review addressed key factors of the service module that the airline follows, like keeping the employees before the customers to ensure that the airline’s brand values are functions are carried out more effectively.
One such interview was conducted in class with Kala Nair, a Srishti administrator and ex-Kingfisher airline crew/ground staff member. One of the main points that was brought into notice was how management functions and how interaction with the customer is the key aspect of any good brand or service. The interview with her opened up the side of the service provider and gave a completely different set of observations.
We also learnt about the strategies and business models that this low-cost carrier follows in order to be successful and have customers experience their airline over and over again and still want to come back for more. This talk gave us insights on building a stronger brand and adding value sets to ensure success of the brand.
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a page from the journal
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RESEARCH SURVEY
After a quick session with Ksenia, a Srishti faculty, about how to conduct successful surveys to get maximum desired output, we set off to create our own surveys to gain insights from travellers and service providers. The aim of the research survey was to get not just a quantitative response, but also gain qualitative and meaningful insights about various aspects of flying. From inquiring about the in-flight magazine to the effects and brand recall values, the questions varied in length and depth to gain insights.
First draft of interview questions
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a page from the final survey
analyzed responses from the survey
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information analysis of quantitative data collected from the survey
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SITE VISIT
One of the exercises to understand customer behaviour and response was to visit the airport and observe travellers, staff members and other services that co-exist in the scenario and the role they play. On taking photographs, notes and some quick sketches at the site, I discovered insights about not only the type of passengers that travel, but also about their behaviour pre/post travel, patterns in people, the way they interact with other services like transport facilities, restaurants, airline ground staff and more. I observed that no matter how experienced the flyer may be, there always exists a touchpoint which is left incomplete that easily turns into a painpoint. For example, even though various airlines provide full services to customers till the point they land at their destination and exist the flight, but from there on, the passengers are left on their own. There is no availability of ground staff to follow-up or complete the journey cycle for passengers.
photography: Aakash Kedia
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LITERATURE REVIEW: BOOKS & ARTICLES
In order to gain knowledge for understanding the consumer and service provider better, I read a range of books of varying topics to gather knowledge about semantics, visual systems, customer psychology, human behaviour and perception, brand management, brand strategies and so on. Each book gave me unique insights and learnings that helped me in my project. A lot more ideas and information was gained from TEDTalks from speakers like David Kelley, Jinsop Lee, Stefan Sagmeister, Milton Glaser and Steven Johnson.
Designing Information by Joel Katz
This is Service Design Thinking by Marc Stickdorn & Jacob Schnider
Graphic Design Thinking by Ellen Lupton
Visual Communication: Images with Messages By Paul Lester
Each of the books that were reviewed, gave insights on how to design information, services, utilize design thinking, use various design tools and understand behavioural psychology and much more. Not only have I acquired knowledge about the same, but I also learnt how to carry an effective research and follow a process to understand the context and apply the same to the real world.
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C
Once the research is done and the data is analyzed, the absorption and integration of the all the data begins. This is where we synthesize and evision a broader idea and start sculpting a foundation for it.
REFLECT
PROJECT PROPOSAL
Design Brief This project is about creating efficient, effective and engaging visual communication across different stages in a user’s journey. Scientifically, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and it is processed much faster than text. The right combination of text and visuals drives higher engagement and communicates data more effectively, which allows the user to connect with the brand. The power of visual stimuli to communicate and influence is indisputable.
Is the traveller overloaded with contextual information?
There are various touch points and check points that a user passes through during his entire journey. Everything from booking a ticket to finally reaching their destination involves a lot of processes. During this transit, the traveller gets bombarded with information through different media. Can the visual communication of an airline brand be created in a way that it stays true to the attributes of the brand and delivers ‘comfort’ in all aspects?
Can a differentiated approach to communication become a differentiating parameter in itself?
Does it then lose its relevance and sensitivity by the way it is presented? How can necessary information be presented to a user through an effective tangible medium?
Can this approach help a brand distinguish itself? Can this then be the building block for a brand’s visual language?
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Research questions
Timeline
What are the different ways in which exploration and research can be used to understand the processes that are involved in a customer’s journey? How can you play with visual language to create a universal design approach? How can different personas identify with this language? Using visual communication, can a user be easily guided through various procedures? How does one encorporate the brand’s identity into different visual mediums and elements to create a connect with the customer?
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Materials and Resources Books:
www.fastcodesign.com
www.pinterest.com
www.leeds.ac.uk
www.monigle.com
www.behance.net
www.issuu.com
www.ted.com
www.invision.com
Designing Information by Joel Katz
www.typecast.com
www.realsimple.com
Information Design Workbook by Kim Baer
www.explorable.com
www.creativebloq.com
www.smartertravel.com
www.f-i.com
www.limemanagement.com
www.webdesigndepot.com
Introduction to Semiotics by Thomas Albert Seboek
www.contentis.co
www.hongkiat.com
Any other resources, books, TEDTalks, online material, articles, etc that can help me understand my area of intervention better, will be used in the project.
www.brandchannel.com
www.smashingmagazine.com
www.thenounproject.com
www.boxesandarrows.com
This is Service Design by Jacob Schneider Graphic Design Thinking by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips
Semiotics of Visual Language by Fernande Saint-Martin
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Learning Outcomes
Dimensions of performance
The knowledge that will be gained through this project lies in the areas of brand building and development and understanding visual communication and perception through semiotics. Understanding a traveller’s behavior and simplifying the journey through different modes of presentation of necessary information is also a key learning aspect of this project. Learning how to create a brand from square one as a whole and not just in the form of identity is a very learning in this project. Development of the same and consistency in the form of staying true to the brand and its applications is a challenge.
The learning outcomes of the project lie in the area of successfully acquiring knowledge about semiotics, behavioral psychology, visual perception and brand identity and essence. Gaining understanding and skill acquisition in the field of graphic design, communication skills, information design, brand building, development and application and behavioral psychology would be an important learning outcome. Meeting deadlines successfully and creating relevant design intervention and forms will add to the success of the project.
The skills that will be acquired would be skills associated with graphic design, information design, web design and visual communication in a broader sense. The tangible outcomes of this project range from creating an airline brand, its identity, branding collaterals like trays, cups, coasters and sickness bag, designing the website and web check-in, creating an in-flight menu, brand manual for the airline and a check-out information card across web or print format.
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PROPOSITION DEVELOPMENT
Brand proposition exercises With all this information at hand and research material about the domestic airline industry, we begin to put all this information to use. A lot of small exercises were done to understand the Economy and Business class space in the industry by making groups of four and building ficticious airlines with propositions based on different target audience and purposes all together. For example, an Event based airline was developed which would cater to events ranging from religious events to weddings and would only be a seasonal airline running in the peak festival months according to the hindu calender.
Event Air Group: Priyanka Mehta, Juhi Agarwal, Masood Ali, Puja Khurana
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OPPORTUNITY AREA
Generating different airline positionings with different themes, target audience and concepts led us to understand how the touchpoints, painpoints and service offerings change for every vision we develop. Smaller rounds of quick thinking exercises to develop stronger brand propositions helped us to shape the vision we had for our airline and finally narrow down to three strong-standing brand proposition for airlines that can be launched in the current domestic Indian airline market.
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Keeping the familiar fresh for the mobile you. Spirited flying experience for the forever young.
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The comfort class airline that syncs with smart pricing.
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FINAL BRAND PROPOSITION
“The comfort class airline that syncs with smart pricing.” This brand proposition was the brand under which I began my final project. Syncing with this project proposition gave me the space to build under a brand that I believe in. To begin with constructing this brand, the market was studied and researched through thoroughly. When you look at the existing market where the economy and first class stand, a huge jump can be noticed. There is no space between the two classes which would allow passengers to upgrade themselves to attain better services. This was observed in the domestic indian airline sector by creating a brand matrix where the gap between the two classes was evident. On seeing this gap between the two classes, we evisioned an airline class that would position itself between these two existing classes and hence, shall be called ‘Comfort Class’. This would mean that the customer could now pay slightly more to avail a lot more comfort in terms of not just services, but also physical comfort during air travel.
On doing an exercise to understand things that value to the customer and the service provider, we resulted in generating a graph of value to customer v/s value to service provider for different travellers. This helped us understand that amongst varied things seat comfort carried a higher value for both, the travellers and the service providers. Another similar survey gave us insights on the services that matter the most to travellers in terms of extra amount that they would be willing to pay in order to avail the same. This key insight helped strengethen our core brand proposition of building a comfort-centric airline.
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MARKET STUDY & RESEARCH
Leisure Traveller
Business Traveller value graph
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Industry research to understand the gap between business class and economy class
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Taken from the Air Finance journal, this survey reveals how much people are willing to pay to avail a certain service. It reveals that customers are willing to pay upto 18% over their regular airfares to avail extra legroom.
A huge gap between the economy class and business class is identified. Travellers are willing to gain more services by paying extra but the jump between the two classes is almost unrealistic. Is there a scope of creating a class between these two existing classes?
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BRANDING DIRECTION
A VISION & MISSION
B ATTRIBUTES
C TARGET AUDIENCE
bring clarity and focus to the future and commitments instead of stating what your brand is
define the attributes that your brand is of and the ones it isn’t, and hence create core concepts for the airlines
identify who your audience is and make personas to clearly state who is the primary and who is the secondary target
D
E
F
VALUE PROPOSITION
KEY COMPETITORS
define what the brand means, what are the attributes, emotional values and rationale benefits of your brand and state the positioning statement
study, compare and create audits by understanding the competitor airlines
G
H
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
identifying the stakeholders involved in order to make an integrated and inclusive design
creating values, services and products that help differentiating the brand from others
KEY PRODUCTS/SERVICES list out the collaterals, services and other products that can be used for the brand as differentiators from others
I VOICE AND TONE creating a voice and tone that not just defines the brand but also gives a look and feel for the same
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COMPETITIVE AUDIT
The growing and ever-expanding competition in the domestic indian market of airlines is a lot. The Indian Aviation market is already expecting six new airlines to be launched very soon. With the birth of new airlines in this competitive a market, it is very important to study the competitors, their key message, visual style, vision, mission and their brand strategy. Hence, a competitive audit for four competitor airlines was made : Vistara, Indigo, Spicejet, Air Costa.
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page from competitive audit
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Domestic airlines
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International airlines
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BRAND MISSION
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To be responsible and dependable. To be fresh, dynamic and flexible.
To create value around people and their needs.
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Once the brand started getting into shape, the qualities of the brand started being defined. The mission of the brand states what the brand will like to be now and in the future years to come. Not just as a brand, but also as an entity that represents hundreds of employees, stakeholders and faithful travellers, the airline brand defined its mission to be responsible and dependable and someone you can count on. The brand aims to be fresh, dynamic and flexible so that it can cater to your needs and wants as customers and always give you something new. It also wants to create value around people and their needs and give them comfort through various services and products.
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BRAND VISION
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When the brand defined its mission, the vision was even clearer. Developing a future vision for itself and not just stating what the brand is, was the challenge. Hence, the comfort class airline decided to hold onto a core proposition to deliver a comfort-centric experience for its users and reduce the overall stress around travel. This vision states what the entity will hold onto no matter what challenges it faces.
To deliver a comfort-centric experience and reduce the stress around travel.
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UNDERSTANDING PERSONAS
On understanding the market and the needs and values of customers, it was now time to define the personas who would value these services. In order to do this, it was very important to first identify the kind of travellers, their travel habits, purpose of travel, needs, wants, state of mind and preferences. Every traveller has a different purpose of travel and set of priorities which change with every trip he or she makes. To know this better, we did persona exercises by catergorizing similar travellers in wider groups. It was done as creatively and freely as possible to make these personas easily identifiable. For example, for one of the exeercises, the personas were presented in the form of Marvel superhero characters to make it easier for people to associate the characteristics of the traveller personas with those of the respective superheros.
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PERSONAS: COMFORT CLASS
The two classes in the Indian Aviation industry are economy class and business class; there exists a service and monetory gap between the two. We recognised and took this opportunity to form a new airline by creating space between the two existing classes, where we focus on extending the characteristics of comfort across all our products and services to occupy the service gap. Hence, these personas were derived on a traveller’s state of mind during travel. Personas were also derived based on monetary status where the primary target would be economy class passengers who wouldn’t mind paying more for better services, while the secondary target would be business class passengers who would prefer paying less (if they have an option for the same).
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BRAND ATTRIBUTES
This is where the brand started getting into shape and it was time to define the attributes and qualities that defined this new comfort class airline. Different exercises like brainstorming and mindmapping were done to identify the characteristics of this brand and what it stood for. Brand values help create a unique character when the brand communicates. It gives the brand definition and adds value when it communicates with customers and hence should never contradict the brand. The four unique attributes that comfort class airline stands by, are as follows: Dependable We are reliable and always reachable to our customers and our colleagues. You can count on us to adapt to your needs and comfort and make your experience memorable.
Direct We are straight-forward and believe in simple communication so that it gets our message across clearly. We do not believe in over-complicating and try to make it easy to understand. Committed We are committed to deliver a comfort-centric experience and maintain high standards of quality and service. We believe in delivering the best to our customers, colleagues and investors. Adaptable We are a dynamic airline that changes with times and needs. We make sure that we are up to date with our service and our outlook. We are here to stretch out to take care of any challenge that great customer service requires us to undertake.
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TONE OF VOICE
A brand’s tone of voice acts as the personality with which the brand communicates and acts. The tone of voice of the comfort class airline aimed at creating a voice that would not only be easy to understand, but also very down-toearth and conversational. Since every word or quality may or may not mean hold the same meaning or context for everyone, the brand tries to define what it means and what it does not mean by the same. To gain feedback and suggestions on how people feel about the brand, the group did a small exercise where feedback from faculty members, group members working under the same brand and other classmates gave their suggestions onto what qualities they felt the brand stood for or represented.
understanding tone of voice of the brand
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NAMING THE AIRLINE
To start with this cruicial a step, there were various points that were needed to be considered when naming the airline. Right from examining the name in the right context to its sound, cadence, pronounciation, phonetics, meaning in languages and cultures, meaning and association that will develop over time to the strong connotations, assumptions and stereotypes that its establishment can lead to. The name holds an important place. Its function does not end at being a tag, but only begins at it and expands over diffferent perspectives, connotations and associations. It needs to generate a reaction, whether positive or negative. It needs to evoke curiosity and interest, whether skeptical or absolute. It needs to create an impact and impression.
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NAMING FEEDBACK
Once a short list of six names was produced,we needed to get a round of responses and reactions from a variety of people. In order to do so, a six-page booklet was made which contained one page per name and took the responder through steps before they can assess the given name in the context of an airline. The motive of this was to gain reactions from people, whether good or bad and evoke some form of curiosity. A name’s function lies in not just staying true to the context, but also in grabbing attention and standing out from the crowd. With this exercise being done with over fifteen people, the responses helped us narrow down to three names from six.
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THE ‘HYPHEN’ STORY
So how did the name ‘Hyphen’ stayed with the brand? With its qualities and aspects of giving a comfort-centric experience through its services, offers and experiences, promises of reducing stress and creating a new class that promisingly places itself between the economy and business class, the name only added more to it. Hyphen acts as a bridge, connecting two relevant words or adding meaning to an existing word. Hyphen is a multi-functional punctuation that bridges gaps, creates space when necessary and indicates that something will follow. Hyphen is more.
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HYPHEN
Hyphen acts as a bridge connecting two relevant words or adding meaning to an existing word. It’s a multi-functional punctuation that bridges gaps, creates space when necessary and indicates that something more will follow.
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D
This is the section where all the research work, processes followed and insights gained are converted into opportunity areas to brainstorm further and generate concepts and ideas that we can convert into reality.
MAKE
VISUAL BRAIN DUMP
It was now time to visually represent all the data, research, insights, ideas and concepts collected. Taking forward the attributes of the brand, the brand essence was now converted into visuals. To do this, mind maps were made to flesh out the meaning of not just Hyphen, but also the brand, comfort and other key qualities that the brand stood for. Making visuals and creating image-word associations from the same, visual brain dumping was done where every word was generated into a visual that we connected with. After doing this, three ideas were narrowed down which strongly stood by the brand: Movement, Direction/ Space, Connections and Softness.
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JOURNAL ITERATIONS
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CONCEPT 1
After ideating and using various methods to generate concepts, like visual brain dump and word-image association, we came down to a tfew words and qualities that represent the brand that can be taken forward into the identity. The initial concept of the airline was based on the ideas of movement, softness and flow. The ribbon like form added an unspoken softness in it. However, this unit stood peacefully in the airplane-window form. This form, however ubiquitous and seen, can be used as a strength since it becomes people to easily recognise it with our brand and our airline.
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digital iterations
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exploratory versions of concept 1
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exploration through corporate identity mock-up
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CONCEPT 2
Moving forward into another concept, we decided to play with the form of the letter ‘H’ and add movement and direction to it. In order to do this, other details like round strokes and edges were added to overall be in sync with the attributes and tone of the brand. This concept ideally dealt with moving ahead and never being static, hence dynamic.
iterations for concept 2
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exploration through corporate identity mock-up
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exploration of logo unit/concept 2
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exploration through corporate identity mock-up
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FINAL CONCEPT
The final concept of the logo for Hyphen was based on the idea of threads and connections. The chosen form not only gave it stability and a sense of movement, but also added lightness and softness to the same. This form juxatoposed on the airline window adds to the idea of movement from another perspective by making it feel like wings. This form inspired from spirographs and threads, stands proudly as the Hyphen logo. These threads not only represent the connections and bridges that Hyphen connects, hence making it dynamic.
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explorng the form to give movement and make it not so static
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TYPEFACE EXPLORATION
To explore typeface options that could work for the logotype, existing typefaces were taken and each character was modified. Here, the typeface Baker Signet was chosen and each character was made less sharper, serifs were made smaller to reduce the constrast and give it a non-edgy feel.
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Original type Modified type
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developing variants for logo
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FINAL LOGO
mono-color version
mono-color version
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EXPLORING COLOR PALETTES
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color palette exploration 1 / 111 /
color palette exploration 2 / 112 /
color palette exploration 3 / 113 /
FINAL COLOR PALETTE
PANTONE 17-5641 CMYK 85/10/55/0 RBG 0/156/136
CMYK RBG
100/65/40/35 0/64/90
CMYK RBG
7/92/100/0 219/47/22
CMYK RBG
0/0/0/0 0/0/0
CMYK RBG
100/65/20/80 0/24/49
CMYK RBG
40/70/80/40 119/68/44
CMYK RBG
5/5/30/5 247/237/195
CMYK RBG
50/70/75/70 60/36/20
HYPHEN WEBSITE
Aim for the website
Concept 1
An airline website serves as a driving platform for booking tickets. A website acts as a platform that gives you every information that the traveller may require regarding air travel, booking, services provided and more. With so much information at hand and only a limited space and the goal to make it accessible, how do you design the website in a way that it still functions effectively? With this challenge in mind, there was another challenge to be added, which was to encorporate the brand essence of Hyphen and making it usable according to the needs of the target audience/personas in mind.
A website is a very functional and to-the-point space where the information that is required is organised in categories so that it is easy to access. To understand the kind of information that would go into a website, the first step was to research and look at airline websites and division of content. Site maps offer information about every page present on a website in a heirarchial manner.The next step was to understand the audience and do user research. User research included stating the needs, personality types, web behaviour, interaction patterns and identifying existing pain points. The key insights that were identified after doing user research were as follows: Reaching on time is the priority Want to be informed Need comfortable and stress-free travel Privacy/space is important Good if attended to Open to using digital mediums Intimidated by kiosks Fuss over wastage of time during travel
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content categorization for the website
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CONTENT CATEGORIZATION EXERCISE
Taking certain observations and research content , categories and content of the website were re-looked at. The way in which people interpret data is often determines how the content would be broken down or categorised. Creating a series of categories that would largely fall under ‘Travel’, an exercise was done where 7 people were categorize content like transportation, historic landmarks, city visit in 24 hours and other topics that would fall under ‘travelling’. The results gave various different directions where people categorized content on task-based activites like Sight-seeing and Travelling to dividing them according to pre, post and during travel activities, to even mood-based categories. This gave me a diverse range of topics to work with along with the understanding on how diversely the same content can be worked with.
content categorization with various users
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content categorization with various users
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excerpts from journal
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Lufthansa Sitemap
Indigo Sitemap
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Generating website content using MIndMeister, an online tool for mapping
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HYPHEN WEBSITE CONTENT STRUCTURE
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home page
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on-board dining
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on-board dining menu
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contact us page
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log in page
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log in: my account
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FINAL HYPHEN WEBSITE
Why concept 1 failed
New and final website concept
Concept 1 of the website looked at the redesign of a standard airline website with the main goal being changing the way content plays in a role in the website. The aim was to categorize the content in a more natural way so that the website feels more intuitive to operate for the user. The research survey that was conducted with over 60 people, showed that even though about 37% of people preferred using airline websites, they often found them confusing and hence it wasted a lot of time. Thus, concept 1 dealt with an intuitive design and tried keeping the format same, while it played with content.
Re-looking at the website again, the challenge was to encorporate the tone and feel of the brand Hyphen into it. To do so, certain attributes of the brand were taken and worked with to build a new website. This allowed the design to be direct, dynamic and to-the-point, without any useless information that would block the user from his main purpose, which ultimately lies in booking the ticket. The users would have no unnecessary information to mislead them or defeat their purpose. This makes the site direct and communicative. Incase the users wanted any extra information, it would lead them to the Hyphen book-app, which has been taken as a separate project by a fellow classmate under the brand Hyphen. The look and feel of the website was completely changed, icons were added and communication was made simpler and easy to understand for the users.
However, the feedback on the same challenged the notion of the website being used as a ‘website’ itself. It highlighted the lack of comfort aspect that Hyphen as a brand holds. Hence, this led to the re-designing of the website and creating a final design that would look at the website in a fresh way.
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pages from journal
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CONTENT CHART
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SITE MAP
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exploratory layouts
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exploratory layouts
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exploratory layouts
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exploratory layouts
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FINAL WEBSITE
home page
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home page: roll over icons to attain text
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home page: explore destinations
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explore destinations: routemap of Hyphen
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home page: services and offers
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services and offers: image rolls over to reveal in-flight services at Hyphen
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web check-in
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web check-in: log in
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web check-in: seat selection after log in
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web check-in: selecting a seat
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web check-in: confirmation with e-ticket
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home page: book a flight
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book a flight: booking a ticket
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book a flight: flight selection
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book a flight: payments page
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book a flight: confirmation and e-ticket
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IN-FLIGHT MENU
As a part of extending comfort to all services, Hyphen offers a complimentary meal with every ticket purchased. It allows the travellers to pick from an array of six veg and non-veg delights on-board. The menu design tries to use simple icons and design and a paper format that easily allows it to fit in the front pocket of the seat where it is placed in the flight. The first step was to understand the kind of food served in airlines and also look at other competitors’ menus and services.
In-flight menus of competitor airlines
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MENU DESIGN: CONCEPT 1
travel schedule accordingly. For i nstance, a person t ravelling Ahmedabad a t 1:45 p m. S ince h e will land i n Ahmedabad by
accordingly. This concept aimed at extending comfort th rough
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FINAL CONCEPT
Why concept 1 failed
New and final concept
needed to be generated for the menu which not only catered passenger’s mind t owards a service t hat may or m ay n ot b e achievable. The feedback also highlighted issues of the menu being too ‘ luxurious’. Even t hough the design seems clean and legible, it wasn’t speaking the tone of Hyphen, nor was it
of Hyphen. With this larger idea in mind, the new menu
of the airline seat were also kept in mind while designing the same.
quality of the airline. Hence, this called for a change in concept Since the airline provides one complimentary meal to the
variety in the meal needs to be added which would cut the monotony of a single meal serv ed for the passenge r, and does not add to other factors like food wastage, unnecessary costs each veg and non-veg meals were generated which could be light breakfast i tem, a s lightly heavy meal and a snacky item like a sandwich which would allow the passenger to p ick a meal of their choice according to their need.
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iterations from new menu concept
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CHECK-OUT CARDS
The concept for check-out cards emerged from the idea of having a check-out counter that will help complete the lose ends of the air journey. As observed in the site visit and data collected from the research survey, people are often left alone right from when they land at their arrival destination. Airlines would not extend themselves to complete the last tier of the journey. Hence, check-out cards came into existence where they would give information about how to get around the city through various modes of transport and places to visit. This allows Hyphen to generate a Checkout counter that would be present near the baggage-claim area at their arrival, where these check-out cards will be available. These cards separately give information about each of those and are made on a smaller and much more convenienet size so that people can carry it around easily and only pick up what they need information about.
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BRANDING COLLATERALS
A brand identity is always extended onto products and ads to keep the brand alive and recognised. This also gives an opportunity to create a brand recall value through which customers associate the brand. Hyphen’s identity was extended to several in-flight mundane items like paper cups, coasters, sickness bag and the tray. Paper cups are a very simple and often used in-flight item. To extend the brand onto this collateral was a challenging job. Hence, to keep the brand’s essence alive, the paper cups were labelled with a very simple line using Hyphen’s tone of voice: just how you like it.
Sickness bags seem like a very mundane item to work with, but they are indeed very tricky to work with. When someone is using an item when they feel sick, how to make this look? Should it convey a sense of comfort or should it be plain and simple? If text like ‘Get Well Soon’ is added on sickness bags, people automatically feel like they are already ill or they feel duller. Hence, the sickness bag was kept plain and simple and made to look pleasant to avoid giving the feeling of an uneasy looking item. Trays and coasters for the flight need to look and feel like the brand since they are used often for service in every flight. Creating an extension of the brand identity from the logo by using the idea of threads, the coasters were designed in three colors with the same.
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BRANDING: SICKNESS BAGS
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BRANDING: PAPER CUPS
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BRANDING: TRAYS
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BRANDING: COASTERS
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BRAND MANUAL
A brand manual for designed for the brand Hyphen, which gives an overview on how the brand identity can be used and what the brand is about. Discover the brand manual at the end of this book. The aim was to keep the brand manual as simpel as possible, while maintaining the tone of Hyphen. Everything from iconography to typeface usage and color values, this book can be used when Hyphen needs to extend itself into areas of marketing, communication and brand promotion.
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E
This is when all the research work, processes followed and insights gained are converted into opportunity areas to brainstorm further and generate concepts and ideas to conver to reality.
REVIEW
EXHIBITION 1
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FEEDBACK
“This has potential if you are consistent.” “I think the name fits really well. Makes sense.” “If you can pull off the brown color scheme, then you have already achieved differentiation at one level” “I love this name!”
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“Why Hyphen?” “I think your brand story conveys your tone and attributes. It’s different.” “Do you think you can shorten the text for personas? It might help.” “Think about more services for mothers and specially-abled people.”
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CLIENT SEMINAR 1
SCOPE OF DESIGN
Brand Identity Design
Communication Design
User Interface Design
Data & Info Visualization
Media Installations
Navigation & Guidance Design
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FEEDBACK
“Depth of customer understanding is well presented. Design thinking tools have been used skillfully.” “Emotional connect aspect can be worked on.” “Focus on navigation from the point of view of personas and integrate the brand communication with this approach. “Avoid complicating the existing process with additional touchpoints.”
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CLIENT SEMINAR 2
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FEEDBACK
“Basic research and groundwork is well in place. The attributes and factors that define personas need some shaping.” “Logo design needs some thinking from aspects of forms, positive and negative play. Brand name is a reflection of process. Good.” “Generation of insights based on research is very clear. Practical and simple insights are captured well.” “Looking at different ways of content categorization can help make the website more intuitive and simpler.” / 189 /
SEMINAR 3
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FEEDBACK
“The branding process is very well defined. Brand building exercise was done well.” “The logo has something. It’s almost there, but you need to find the element that will make it click!” “Colors are very powerful. Emerald will definitely stand out. Accent colors need to be defined for the palette.” “The look and feel of the site and the menu are very ‘comforting’ and soothing. It feels light and soft and direct. / 191 /
FINAL CLIENT SEMINAR
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FEEDBACK
PROJECT: AIR SHARE
DESIGNER: Puja
DESIGN CONTEXT
DATE : 25.11.2014
REVIEW COMMENTS
SCOPE
Inquiry of Design IntervenJon Areas
Very Good
CONCEPT/s & DEVELOPMENT
ExploraJon and creaJve approach towards opportunity presented
Very Good
Proposed Design SoluJon
The soluJon looks very professional and apt
CRITIQUE Avenues to explore / improvise OR PotenJal to scale up
MEASURE OF SATISFACTION
The responsiveness of design vis-‐à-‐vis client brief
CreaJon of a new product or a service that supports the brand tagline would have been appreciated
BeauJful work that was clever and can lead to many new avenues in services
OVERALL FEEDBACK: Lot of work that well established the maturity, flexibility and applicability of the brand.
Project AirShare HYPHEN
AIR NAVA
AIR YUVA
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F
The last section where all due credits, sources and links are mentioned. Without these, the project would be empty.
CREDITS
REFLECTION
This project has not only been challenging, but has also been one of the most extensive projects I’ve worked on. It has not only helped me sharpen my skills, but has also given me the opportunity to do a thorough research and concept based project given the time frame. From application of graphic design knowledge to learning new skills about web design and interface, it has been a good learning process overall. This has definitely made me very familiar with the airline industry and its functioning. With a wonderful opportunity given by our client, TATA Elxsi, who constantly supported us and gave us feedback at crucial points and our extremely supportive faculty members, Vijay Kumar and Sonalee Mandake, who guided us at every single step, this project has given me a great platform to present a worthy outcome.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.fastcodesign.com
www.pinterest.com
www.leeds.ac.uk
www.monigle.com
www.behance.net
www.issuu.com
www.ted.com
www.invision.com
www.typecast.com
www.realsimple.com
www.explorable.com
www.creativebloq.com
www.smartertravel.com
www.f-i.com
www.limemanagement.com
www.webdesigndepot.com
www.contentis.co
www.hongkiat.com
www.brandchannel.com
www.smashingmagazine.com
www.thenounproject.com
www.boxesandarrows.com
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Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology This book was designed as part of the Undergraduate Professional Diploma Program for the academic year 2014-2015 under the project AirShare. Copyright Š Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology.