Concept Development for Uttar Pradesh Tourism Website by Subarna Sengupta

DIPLOMA PROJECT Concept Development for Uttar Pradesh Tourism Website Sponsor : Self

Volume : 1 STUDENT : SUBARNA SENGUPTA PROGRAMME :

Graduate Diploma Programme

GUIDE : RUPESH VYAS

2014 COMMUNICATION DESIGN FACULTY (GRAPHIC DESIGN)

National Institute of Design Ahmedabad

The Evaluation Jury recommends SUBARNA SENGUPTA for the Diploma of the National Institute of Design IN COMMUNICATION DESIGN (GRAPHIC DESIGN)

herewith, for the project titled

"CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT FOR UTTAR PRADESH TOURISM WEBSITE" *

Chairman Members :

Registrar(Academics)

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

ORIGINALITY STATEMENT I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it contains no full or substantial copy of previously published material, or it does not even contain substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in this diploma project. Moreover I also declare that none of the concepts are borrowed or copied without due acknowledgement. I further declare that the intellectual content of this Diploma Project is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. This diploma project (or part of it) was not and will not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course. Student Name in Full: Signature: Date: COPYRIGHT STATEMENT I hereby grant the National Institute of Design the right to archive and to make available my diploma project/thesis/dissertai on in whole or in part in the Institute’s Knowledge Management Centre in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act. I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my document or I have obtained permission to use copyright material. Student Name in Full: Signature: Date:

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am taking this opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone who supported me throughout the course of my diploma project. I am thankful for their aspiring guidance, invaluably constructive criticism and friendly advice during the project work. The tourism department at Lucknow has always been very responsive in providing necessary information, and without their generous support on this project which was otherwise a remote possibilty. I am sincerely grateful to Ms

Bharti Singh head of the Prachar Vibhag who in spite of being extraordinarily busy with her duties, took time out to hear and for sharing her truthful and illuminating views on a number of issues related to the project. I express my warm thanks to Mr. R.S Yadav, Joint Director of the tourism department for introducing me to the right people and Mr. Shakti Singh for giving necessary advices and guidance and for providing me with all the necessary material and documents for this project. I would also like to thank my project guide Rupesh Vyas for his careful and precious guidance which were extremely valuable for my study. I am also thankful to him for keeping an open mind and expanding and elaborating all the possibilities.

Last but not the least I would like to thank the Graphic Design Department and all my faculty members who have guided me over the last few years and my peers especially Sarita Ekka, Lalith Prasad, Cindrella Samuel and Amritpal Singh my peers for their encouragement and support. I perceive this opportunity as a big milestone in my career development. I will strive to use gained skills and knowledge in the best possible way, and I will continue to work on their improvement, in order to attain desired objectives.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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SYNOPSIS The Internet is a powerful marketing tool in the tourism industry and can have quite a dramatic effect on the tourism industry itself. It makes every city, country and state have their own website. In this case, a good and interesting web design is very important in supporting the promotion of a tourist spot. The design of the tourism sites should be able to present the best things that can be enjoyed

by tourists and inspire their desire to visit the place. But destination marketing organizations (DMOs) are facing intriguing challenges to provide quality information online in an era of information overload. Insufficient knowledge of tourist’s online information preferences and search behaviour has hindered them from effective information management.The internet continues to be most prevalent tool for researching and travel bookings. The diploma project focuses on developing concepts for Uttar Pradesh tourism website otherwise known as DMO (Destination management organization) site. Since this was

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

my first experience designing for the web and working with user interfaces understanding key website elements was extremely crucial. Armed with a keen sense of inquiry instilled in us through the design education at NID I was able to chalk out the key areas of improvement and to chart out the objectives. The goal was to reach the users through a simple and easy to navigate website. To create useful and engaging content whilst still having a unique aesthetic appeal. This project was also a strategic exercise to understand how different destinations have been promoting their tourism product and to apply the knowledge gained towards the development of the website design. It became evident that

more and more people are starting to see the power of storytelling in web in reaching audiences.To gain a better understanding of the context the different roles and responsibilities of a DMO was looked into and at different points during the project data maps were created to make more sense of the data collected. This project helped me to realize that content can’t be somebody else’s problem. Designers have a huge stake in knowing how the content will be structured. Instead of treating the content as something wholly separate from the rest of the experience designers have to make sure it’s the centrepiece. I also realized that design should most definitely serve a function especially when we’re talking about

the most powerful marketing tool in existence, the web. Constant efforts must be taken to achieve a union of usefulness and aesthetics. The biggest challenge was to engage with the bigger picture but at the same time to not lose sight of the nitty gritty details that successfully sum a website.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

CONTENTS •

PART I INTRODUCTION PAGE 1� PAGE 15 About NID Uttar Pradesh Tourism DMO Roles and Responsibilities Design Brief Project Proposal Introduction to web design

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PART II CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY PAGE 16� PAGE 44 Destination Destination Life Cycle Types of Tourism Inventory of Tourists Attractions Destination Management Organization Sustainable Tourism Marketing Challenges for DMO Websites Content of DMO Sites Developing a Content Strategy The Online Travel Search for Inspiration Building a Brand Infographic

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

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PART III ANALYSIS PAGE 45 � PAGE 152 Uttar Pradesh State Tourism Scenario Keywords Swot Anaysis for U.P. Uttar Pradesh Tourism Website Analysis Suggestions for Improvement Social Media Trends in Web Design 2014 – 2015 Travel Activity based User Segmentation Case Studies Inferences Drawn from Case Studies

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PART IV CONCEPTUALIZATION PAGE 153 � PAGE 181 Revisiting brief and suggested strategies Paper Protoypes Grid Setup Typography Colour Branding Graphical Sitemaps Final Concept

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PART V CONCLUSION PAGE 182 � PAGE 183 Conclusion Bibliography

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

INTRODUCTION •

National Institute of Design (NID) is internationally acclaimed as one of the foremost multidisciplinary institutions in the field of design education and research. The Business Week, USA

has listed NID as one of the top 25 European & Asian programmes in the world. The institute functions as an autonomous body under the department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. NID is recognised by the Dept. of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) under Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, as a scientific and industrial design research organisation.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Graphic Design A graphic design student in addition to a thorough grounding in design abilities and theoretical issues, undertakes the study of the cultural and historical context in which designers need to function, as well as the social and ethical factors that influence design decisions. The ultimate aim is to stimulate the development of independent critical judgement, sound research skills, the ability to think creatively and practice design

as a professional. The last decade or so has witnessed a near total tranformation in the way a graphic designer works. The expansion and application of the electronic media has made graphic reproduction technologies more accessible to the designer. Paradoxically, traditional skills have become more necessary than befoore. Quality and creative solutions contextual to the user’s needs are still a baisc human input. The fundamental importance of creating a visual vocabulary through drawing, the development of aesthetic judgement, values of form, proportion, image and word have become an integral part of learning graphic design at NID.

Diploma Project

The diploma project is the final stage of PG cource at NID. As part of curriculum, all final year students are required to undertake a diploma project, which is a full-scale design project in the industry. The diploma project, which is expected to be of four to six months duration, is a complete demonstration of independent client service by the student and it is expected to generate a professional design assignment with application and implementation capabilities. It aims at giving the students, exposure to real life situations in the industry with evident constrains, time frame and methodology. It is an opportunity for the student to exhibit her skill as a design professional in the industry with

regular but limited guidelines from the institute. The project is the culmination of a students learning process at NID, further enhanced by the learning & skills acquired by the interaction with the industry the exposure allows the student to grow in confidence & utilize all that has been taught in terms of practical application, understanding, client brief, cost consideration, market trends and buyer psychology

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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UTTAR PRADESH TOURISM

Uttar Pradesh, the heartland of India, is known for its Heritage, Culture and bounties of Nature. It is home to some of the greatest monuments, the most ancient city in the world, the seat of Buddhism and the colours of all faiths. It is common destination for a quarter of all foreign tourists to India and all domestic tourists within India.

The Tourism Development Policy has been framed in Uttar Pradesh under which Tourist circuits are being developed as the Buddhist Circuit , Braj (Agra- Mathura) Circuit ,

Department of Tourism, Lucknow

the Awadh Circuit,VindhyaVaranasi Circuit, Wild LifeEco Adventure Circuit, the Bundelkhand Circuit . In order to prepare schemes relating to the development of tourism and to execute them, the Directorate of Tourism was established in the year 1972 of which the Director General is an I.A.S. officer. In 1974 the Uttar Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation was established to look after the commercial activities which are a part of development of tourism. Its Managing Director is also an I.A.S. Officer.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

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DMO (Destination Management Orgnization) Roles and Responsibilities

3. At the district level the minimum target should be 50,000 visitors per year but should encourage more and more tourists to visit.

national as well as international level. They should also organize fairs, seminars, events and festivals to encourage cultural activities.

1. Central and the state governments should collectively work together recognize places of tourist interest and to develop and promote them and with proper planning avail the necessary facilities.

4.Tourism department should help promote and encourage the spiritual, cultural and heritage legacies of the state. They should help preserve the monuments the different cultural art form, sculptures and handicrafts. They should print publications that provide more knowledge about the tourist attractions.

6. The tourism department should also see that revenue is collected from the various tourist destinations. They should also see that the information dissemination and technical team and water routes are all well -coordinated and all their efforts are eco friendly.

2. There should be coordination between the state level and district level governments to provide all the necessary facilities so that there is no fear or trouble for the tourist visiting the state.

5. The government and private sector should work together to promote the destination at the

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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GUIDELINES FOR INDIAN GOVERNMENT WEBSITES (GIGW) Government websites should adhere to certain common minimum standards which have been derived, in the form of guidelines discussed in this document, as pre-requisites for a government website to fulfill its primary objective of being a citizen centric source of information and service delivery.

GUIDELINES 1. Positioning of the Websites Since the website of a department is its reflection to the outside world, it ought to be seen as an integral part of the Department, rather than an external entity. Hence all facets of the department and its activities should be appropriately reflected on the website. A clear, strategic vision of what the department aims to achieve through its website has to be generated. Organisations should clearly categorize the information generated within the organization as Government to Citizen (G2C), Government to Business (G2B), Government to Government (G2G) and Government to Employee (G2E) and should accordingly define policies to

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

guide what information to publish , where to publish and when to publish. A special policy should be laid down to handle (publish / remove/ archive) time sensitive information. Approval processes should be different for different types of information. 2. Content Management The crucial element of an effective presence on the Internet is good content. A website should be oriented towards its prospective audience. Intended audience to the government website could be citizens, businesses, government departments as well as government employees. Hence the content should be written keeping the audience in mind. Apart from the selection of the content, equal emphasis

needs to be given to the way it is written and presented on the web. The content aimed at the common Public must be written in simple language so that people with diverse professional, educational and demographic backgrounds can easily comprehend. Presentation of the content on the web should also be looked into. Too long or too short pages should be avoided. Content format should be such that it does not require an extra piece of software to access. Most of the content published on the website is in HTML (Hyper text Markup Language) format which is a defacto format used on the web and can be accessed by all browsers. However, one of the most commonly used formats , all over the world is Portable Document Format

(PDF) which allows large documents to be published conveniently and in a non-editable form without disturbing the lay-out. It has to be noted that since the web users can directly reach the inside pages of the website using the search engines and there is no guarantee that they shall enter the site through the Home Page, each page in the website must have a self-contained identity and be capable of being seen as the first page. It should contain meaningful document headings as well as consistent navigation to the rest of the site. Appropriate disclaimers and date stamp should also be included on the subsequent pages wherever necessary.

*From the Guidelines for Indian Government websites (GIGW) circulated to all government deparrtments.

3. Content Updation & Maintenance Businesses world over are leveraging on the potential of Internet as a mass media and are using it to communicate with their clients. These users or citizens are also expecting the governments to perform in a similar fashion and thus expect to get the latest and up-to-date information about the activities, events, schemes, programmes etc. from its web site before they see it in the Press or elsewhere. A content management system should be developed for the website which shall facilitate a browser based easy to use updation mechanism for various sections of the website.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

4.Multilingual Versions One of the major users of government websites are citizens of India. Due to the various initiatives taken by Centre and State governments, Internet is now accessible even in the remote parts of the nation. Hence there is a need to put the information in multiple languages. 5. Raising Trust Government web sites should not only have the most up-to- date information at all times, it also must raise citizens’ confidence and trust by abiding by the law and explaining their terms and conditions clearly to the users. The issue assumes more importance when it comes to online transactions as well as making payments through the website. Well worded disclaimers, privacy policies, terms and conditions

and copyright information enhance the credibility of the website and help in further building the users’ trust. Since a key word in any of the popular search engines gives millions of results, it is important that the website of a government department has a high visibility and can stand out amongst them. To improve the likelihood that web pages of a department have a high visibility, the following steps need to be undertaken. The advertisements/public messages including Press Releases, Tender Notifications etc issued in the Newspapers/Audio-visual media by the concerned Department should prominently mention the URL of the web site clearly in order to give it due publicity.

6. Content Disclaimer Content Disclaimers/Ownership Statements are generally included to inform the visitor about the roles and responsibilities of the various entities involved in developing and maintaining the content on the websites. It is desirable that all the government should have a content disclaimer/ ownership statement on their websites 7. Copyright The information, material and documents made available on a government website have to be backed up with proper copyright policies explaining the terms and conditions of their usage and reference by others.

8. Ownership All websites and portals belonging to the Indian Governement must prominently display a strong Indian Identity and ownership of the Indian Governement. The National Emblem of India must be displayed on the homepage of the websites of Indian Government website. 9. Personalization In case of highly dynamic websites where a lot of information is generated every day, the concept of personalisation can be used, whereby the user can choose to receive the information of his/her interest through email, thus avoiding information overload.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

10. Feedback Forms Another commonly used method of receving the feedback from the visitors of the site is through feedback forms of guest books. Feedback forms, with pre-decided fields , to be filled in by the visitors, enable a much more structured way of receving feedback and hence make it easy to categorise or analyse the same. Forms are also quite useful for receiving grievances/complaints from the users in a structured and formatted manner.

Contact forms and feedback forms

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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PROPOSAL : Objectives

Creating more customization options and user friendly Graphic User Interface that would make it easy for visitors to navigate the site for the desired tourist spot. Visual language in sync with what the organization wants to project. Creating Responsive Design—ability to provide a uniform experience for visitors regardless of the channel. Seamless and effortless browsing experience enhanced by the use of typography, colour, iconography. Assessing business goals and design goals and creating high fidelity website wireframe prototypes focusing on:

• The kinds of information displayed • The range of functions available • The relative priorities of the information and functions • The rules for displaying certain kinds of information • The effect of different scenarios on the display. Design optimization on the basis of user experience. The travel and tourism industry is one of the most exciting and vibrant ones in the business world. Because of the international character of this industry, it relies on the web as a marketing arena more than other businesses out there. As the internet becomes the number one resource for booking flights, hotels,

car rentals and vacation packages, online presence is absolutely critical for business owners in the tourism field. In other words, travel businesses that don’t have a striking website are losing customers by the hour. The tourism website have a lot of room for improvement to make in terms of featuring real-time social activity and reaching visitors on mobile. But in terms of design sense should right on and should be an example to destinations still stuck in the era of brochures.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

PROPOSED TIMELINE AND METHODOLOGY WEEKS June 2nd − 8th Project briefing, selection, proposal and literature study. June 9th − July 6th Data collection, analysis and inference, user goals study, business objectives, values, mission, goals, stories, messages, personality, emotions, tone of voice, brand experience, culture, studying the key areas for application design and touch points, target audience study and demographic profiling through surveys, take into account the issues pertaining to the interactivity of the current site. July 7th − August 3rd

Case studies, building personas, card sorting. August 4th − September 21st

Concept iterations and final design options. September 22nd − October26th

Documentation

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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DESIGNING WEBPAGES

We really don’t read web pages, we scan them. Most visitors scan a webpage looking for specific words or phrases. When they find an item that matches, they try to click that object to get more information. If it isn’t what they want, the visitors simply click the back button and look for something else. The concept of webpages is how we read a newspaper – quickly scanning titles, reading a few lines here and there.

Here are five important things you can do to make sure your visitors see and understand as much as possible about your webpages. 1. Create a clear visual hierarchy on each page.’ 2. Take advantage of conventions. 3. Break pages up into clearly defined areas. 4. Make it obvious what’s clickable. 5. Minimize noise.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

PARTS OF A WEBPAGE (homepage) MASTHEAD NAVIGATION BAR

CALL TO ACTION CAROUSEL SLIDER

CONTENT SECTION

SIDEBAR

FOOTER

abstract

DESIGN PROCESS FOR BUILDING A WEBSITE (Taking excerpt from Site Planning with Garrett’s 5 Planes of User Experience) STRATEGY AND RESEARCH

Research Of Other Popular Brands User Goals, Site Objectives, Business Objectives Surveys Personas

Surveys , a series of questions asked to multiple users of the website to help learn about the people who will visit the site.

SCOPE Task Analysis Content Inventory Card Sorting

Task Analysis involves learning about user goals, including what users want to do on the website, and helps understand the tasks that users will perform.

STRUCTURE Hierarchical Structure Site Structure Navigation Structure Use Cases Interaction Design

Site Structure Diagrams are an abstract, complicated visual representation of content and hierachy of a website through a diagram. Important information can be shown as prioritised. Site Structure Diagrams cover more detail than a site map, they show the overall website outcome in an information architectural view.

SKELETON Website Wireframe Comprehensive Layout Visual Components

Visual components will consist of selection of appropriate typeface, typographical hiearchy colour and imagery and the overall visual language.

SURFACE

concrete

Prototype Style Guide TESTING & REFINEMENT First Click Testing Usability Testing Heuristic Evaluation

Prototyping allows the design team to explore ideas before implementing them by creating a mock-up of the site. A prototype can range from a paper mockup to interactive html pages.

→

First Click Testing allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of the linking structure of the site, including the navigation, to see how users get around the site and complete their intended task.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Persona is the representation of the goals and behaviour of a hypothesized group of users. In most cases, personas are synthesized from data collected from interviews with users. They are captured in 1–2 page descriptions that include behaviour patterns, goals, skills, attitudes, and environment, with a few

fictional personal details to make the persona a realistic character. For each product, more than one persona is usually created.

Content inventory is the process and the result of cataloguing the entire contents of a website.

Card Sorting allows users to group your site’s information. This helps ensure that the site structure matches the way users think.

Navigation structure The biggest breakdown in website architecture is a navigation structure that prevents visitors from easily finding the information they need and blocks search engines from indexing your content. It doesn’t matter how perfectly the site is optimized if the site navigation fails to get searchers and search engines to the content

ensuring internal navigation structure and links are set up ensures proper search engine spidering and helps visitors find information they need quickly. Website’s navigation is little more than the main navigation bar.

Interaction design is the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services with the main focus is on behaviour.

Website wireframe also known as a page schematic or screen blueprint, is a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website. The wireframe depicts the page layout or arrangement of the website’s content, including

interface elements and navigational systems, and how they work together. The wireframe usually lacks typographic style, colour, or graphics, since the main focus lies in functionality, behavior, and priority of content.

Comprehensive layout is the page layout of a proposed design showing the relative positions of text and illustrations before the final content of those elements has been decided upon. The comp thus serves as a draft of the final layout.

A style guide is a document that prescribes the ‘styles’ or standard format for the presentation of information.It deals with the presentation of content identifying any standards that can be applied. Usability testing identifies any usability problems, collect qualitative and quantitative data and determine the user’s satisfaction with the product.

Heuristic Evaluation Heuristic evaluation is a usability inspection method for computer software that helps to identify usability problems in the user interface (UI) design.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY • Exploration

Rejuvenation Stabilization

▶

Decline

Involvement

Stagnation

Tourism Area Life Cycle.

▶

Consolidation

Development

▶

DESTINATION is a geographical area (place, region, country) which is chosen by the guest (or a guest segment) as travel destination. It contains all the facilities necessary for a stay, inclusive of accommodation, catering and entertainment/ activities. Therefore, it is the competitive unit of the Incoming Tourism which must be managed as a strategic business unit.

Tourism destinations are constantly changing, they rise and fall in popularity and their success can often be influenced by changes in fashion or to external influences outside the control of the destination. This process can be understood in terms of a life cycle.

Tourism Area Life Cycle.

This model postulates that tourism destinations tend to experience five distinct stages of growth: exploration, involvement, development, consolidation and stagnation outlined below: Exploration. During this stage small numbers of visitors are attracted by natural or cultural attractions; visitor numbers are limited and few

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

tourist facilities exist; visitors may come from nearby towns. Involvement. During this stage there is limited involvement by local residents who provide some facilities for visitors; recognisable tourist seasons and market areas begin to emerge; visitors may travel from within the state or region. Development. During this stage large numbers of tourists arrive and external organisations such as hotel chains and tour operators take more of a key role; tourists may travel from all parts of the nation or internationally. Consolidation. During this stage tourism becomes a major part of the local economy and of increasing political importance, with politics perhaps taking

more of a central role. Rates of visitor growth may have levelled off and some facilities may be in need of upgrading. Stagnation. During this stage the number of visitors has peaked; the destination may no longer be considered fashionable and there may be a high turnover of business properties. Depending on the response of destination managers to the onset of stagnation, various scenarios are then possible, including decline, stabilisation, or rejuvenation and re-invention. It is at the stage of consolidation and stagnation that managers need to intervene and take action to avoid decline.

Survey on 'Trends in Tourists inflow 2013 ‘ by ASSOCHAM said that the industry has primarily been impacted due to deteriorating standards of safety and security. The inbound foreign tourists have opted other Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, etc. The situation has been further aggravated by the advisory issued by various countries to their citizens visiting India to be cautious and avoid India. Statistics show that there is a drastic drop in the number of tourist visitors to Canada which could signal the decline of Canada as a destination. It may be time for Canada to start courting other American states, revamp and reposition its product for its neighbours or even target other clienteles.

Airways

Inte rn a ion

ITINERARY

Rail

Road

Lo c al

DESTINATION Wellness

Will tavel for :

Restaurants

LEISURE HEALTH

Internet

Hotels

NEARBY SPOTS Local transport

c s ti

Tracking the tourists from planning to exploring the destination.

Dom e

TRACKING THE TOURIST

EDUCATION / STUDY VISITING FRIENDS OR RELATIVES

Local ticket booking

RELIGION AS A DIPLOMAT PARTICIPATE IN EVENTS BUSINESS SPORTS SITES

Shopping

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TYPES OF TOURISM Tourism destinations may be affected by many external influences outside their control such as changes in fashion, or political or environmental circumstances. Depending on the resources available to the destination, it is wise to diversify and to offer more than one type of tourism.

The following is a brief explanation of the key types of tourism. Leisure. Leisure tourism is the term used to describe tourism for the main purposes of recreation and leisure. It is typically thought of in terms of the residential vacation, but it may include day trips also. There are many different types of tourism within this sector such as adventure tourism, ecotourism, heritage tourism, wine tourism, packaged beach vacations and so on. Health. Health tourism can broadly be defined as people travelling from their place of residence for health reasons. This includes visits to spas and health and fitness centres, as well as travelling to receive treatments which require more specific medical intervention such as cosmetic or medical surgery.

The latter have been driven by high costs and long waiting lists in the generating countries and by new technology and skills in destination countries. Educational/study. Educational or study tourism includes both travelling to attend an academic institution in order to gain qualifications or participation in a tour for the purposes of learning. Business tourism. Is travel to attend an activity or event associated with business interests. Business travellers come at different times of the year, at different days of the week and may return to a destination as leisure travellers. . Business tourism is high quality and high yield and can be positioned as a key part of an economic development strategy. The sector is

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

resilient to the types of events and economic downturns that affect leisure tourism adversely. Visiting friends or relatives. This term refers to travel to visit friends or relatives and could be the primary purpose of a trip, or could be a combination of visiting friends and relatives with a vacation. The extent to which visitors use services such as accommodation and attractions will vary, some may stay exclusively with their friends/family while for others this may be a combination. Religion. Religious tourism is tourism motivated strongly for religious reasons. This may include pilgrimages to significant religious places such as

the Holy Lands – significant to Jews, Muslims and Christians or India – significant to Hindu and Buddhists. Religious tourism can also be for a specific religious conference or event such as the Islamic pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca). Sport. Sport tourism is travel to participate in a sports activity for recreation or competition; or to observe a sporting event (e.g. the Olympics, which attract a number of participants and spectators); or to visit a sports attraction. Attractions may be natural or man made and provide opportunities to participate in sport. Resorts often specialise in providing sport activities such as golf or tennis and specialised tours

such as package ski tours or tours for spectators and participants have been developed.

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INVENTORY OF TOURISTS ATTRACTIONS Culture Sites and areas of archaeological interest Historical building and monuments, Places of historical significance Museums Modern culture Political and educational institutions Religion Traditions National Festivals Arts and handicrafts Music Folkore Native life and customs Scenic Outstanding panoramas and areas of natural beauty National Parks

Wild life Flora and fauna Beauty resorts Mountain resorts. Entertainment Participation and viewing sports Amusement and recreation parks Zoos and oceanarims Cinemas and theartres Night life Cuisine Other attractions Cimate Health resorts and spas Unique attraction not available elsewhere.

But Destination appeal and experiences offered are shaped by

Attractions Public and private amenities Price Image and character Human Resources Accesibility

The various reasons for Growth in Tourist Arrivals Worldwide

Internet Booking Increase in disposable income Cheaper budget airlines Promotion of destinations Package holidays Improvement in air travel technology Increasing global population size Increased holiday entitlement for people

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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DESTINATION MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION (DMO’s) is the co-ordinated management of all the element that make up a destination. Destination management takes a strategic approach to linkup these sometimes very separate entities for the better management of the destination. Joined up management can help to avoid duplication of effort with regards to promotion, visitor services, training, business support and identify any management gaps that are not being addressed.

Need to create Destination Management Organization 1. There is a high importance to create regional and local Destination Management Organisations (DMO) to improve the tourism performance and output. 2. There must me a much more intensive dialogue between the players (Travel Ecosystem) of the tourism industry to have a common route and strategy 3. To be responsible for marketing their destinations and formulate local and regional tourism strategy 4. The quality of the services needs to be improved.

5. The performance of the touristy websites needs to be improved 6. To intensify the education of the tourist staff 7. National research and collecting data needs to support regional and local efforts 8. To modernise / to update the tourism infrastructure. 9. Without proper planning and management tourism can damage the destination evironment, cause social and cultural conflict and alienate communities that host tourism. Hence DMO’s should promote sustainable tourism.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

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SUSTAINABLE TOURISM is an approach to tourism development in a way which reduces the negative impacts and protects local people’s business interests, heritage and local environment because it is the livelihood of the destination. Destination management organizations (DMOs) play a vital role in promoting tourism in the country, region or town to tourists, tour operators and intermediaries, which is especially beneficial in a highly competitive tourism market.

Without proper planning or management tourism can damage the destination’s environment; cause social and cultural conflict and alienate the communities that host tourism. Sustainable tourism development manages the impacts of tourism on the destination’s environment, economy and community and maintains and enhances the destination’s resources for the present and future needs of both tourists and the communities that host them. A code of practice should be established for tourism based on internationally acceptable standards. Guidelines for tourism operations, impacts assessment, monitoring of cumulative impacts.

Before

TRAVELLER’S JOURNEY

The traveller’s journey is a framework for understanding the experiences of the traveller from first thinking about a vacation or business trip through to planning, booking, experiencing and recalling the experience.

DMO ROLE

DESIGN INTERVENTION

DREAMING To do and see. Getting inspired Sharing of ideas Preliminary Search Image formation

PLANNING

BOOKING

Accomodation Transportation Useful tips, brochures Create a budget Infomation Assimilation Getting together Narrowing down and focusing

Booking Rooms, Best Deals Packages Shows and entertainment Tailor made holidays

DESTINATION PROMOTION

VISITOR SERVICES

Create Awareness, Emotional Interest, Specific Ideas Adertising

Provide Practical Information

Enable Booking

BRAND EXPERIENCE

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT AND INFORMATION DESIGN

INTERFACE AND NAVIGATION

Facilitate planning through website development, brand collaterals, interface related activities, search behaviours and information management

Engage your audience, multilingual content, trip plannners, tailor made web tools, and services.

Advertisement, product, judgement, attitudes, preferences, purchase, intent and recall, staged experiences, conceptaulizing the experience through brand related stimuli (eg colours, shapes, typefaces, slogans, logo) sensory, emotive and intellectual experience.

After

During

EXPERIENCING

REMEMBERING

SHARING

Sight seeing Cuisine Interaction with the indegenous culture Photography Hotel Stays Transport Local Shopping Handicrafts Plan ahead Visit nearby places

Recollection through photographs Recollection through experiences

Photo albums Social media Reviews Recommendations

VISITOR SERVICES Ensure quality of experience, facilities, services, PR, information and booking.

ENSURE GROWTH AND RETURN

DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL PLATFORMS

Maintain the relationship

Create social platforms to enable sharing, keep travellers updated

BRAND PRESENCE

ONLINE PRESENCE

Onsite brand presence through print media, signages.

Through videos, visual identity, and apps.

PRESS AND MEDIA TOOLS Create social platforms, manage SEOs, manage brand image.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

• Four Quadrants of Tourism Markting Tourism website should answer questions in the four quadrants

EAT

STAY

SHOP

MARKETING trends primarily refer to consumers who are seeking advice from other consumers through the Internet (e.g.blogs) new common interest groups and social networking sites which are a main resource for orientation of knowledge (e.g. TripAdvisor); the Internet which will drive future developments in tourism.

To a great extent in many western countries, DMOs use the advantages provided by the Internet to enhance their consumer orientation. These advantages enable them to reach a large number of consumers worldwide with information and product offer at relatively low cost to provide information of greater depth and quality than has been possible through traditional medium of print, to enable consumers to book quick and easily. In this way, DMOs can reach potential tourists more efficiently and adjust more easily to their specific individual demands. It is important for destination marketers to learn how and where potential

visitors search for information about a destination, how important various sources of information are to them, and based on what factors do they select a destination for vacation and travel. Consumer behaviour studies show that consumers gather information from various sources, both internal and external and that websites are a valuable source of information for tourists when planning their trips. The field research results show that respondents consider information on destination offering, destination description, booking possibilities and other marketing information to be the most important. Conversely, website

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

functionality is not of great importance in the early phase of trip planning process. Results of the previous studies indicate that the information provided to tourists when planning a trip is a crucial factor for choosing a destination.

Since it is common today for tourists to search for information about destinations on the Internet, it can be concluded that it is particularly important to provide information whose content suits the needs of tourists at different stages of planning a trip.

As detailed by skift Special attention should be given to the fact that

Web marketing is a critical and efficient tool for DMOs to market their destination and reduce the costs for marketing (Kim et al., 2009). Therefore, considerable attention should be paid to the design and content of the DMOs website.

leading up to a package booking, 38 visits were made to tarvel sites.

The Expedia study found that online travel agents sites dominate trip planning for package bookers, taking

decisions made by tourists prior to departure are likely to limit the choice of alternative purchases later in the vacation. In the 45 days

47.2% share of visits. Shares in other sectors included airline sites 11.2%, planning and review sites such as TripAdvisor 6.8% and DMO sites 6.4%.

Tourism Product Unlike other

industries the products of the tourism industry are a pastiche of formerly heterogenous elements amalgamated by advertising for tourist consumption. Combined symbiotically they include services (lodging, dining, transportation, recreation), culture(folklore, festivals, heritage, monuments) and less palpable things such as hospitality, ambience and ethnicity. At last this product incorporates the society itself, its culture, its identity.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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CHALLENGES FOR DMO WEBSITES The travel business media and information companies are an archaic lot. For being the chroniclers of the world’s largest and most creative industry, most of these companies have not managed the legacy-todigital transition well, and have not been able to take advantage of the latest and best digital tools to scale their businesses in digital.

As mentioned in an earlier the internet is now involved in 85% of holiday purchases while smartphone mobile usage is steadily increasing along with the demand for more travel information and location based applications. Considering therefore that 43% of mobile phone users are now carrying a smartphone, and more than one third of mobile users plan to book their travel on their phones in the next year, DMOs need to be looking at smartphone marketing. According to many recent studies, Destination marketing organizations (DMOs) are facing intriguing challenges to provide quality information online in an era of information overload. Insufficient knowledge of tourist’s online information preferences

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

and search behaviour has hindered them from effective information management. A local or regional DMO website should help to promote not only the destination as a whole, but also hotels, tourist attractions, restaurants, theatre, sports, activities in the destination itself. Ideally it would be possible to buy or reserve this through the DMO website. However, with websites such as Tripadvisor, WAYN, Google Maps, Facebook, etc., many people question the role of DMO/NTO/CVB’s websites in 10 years from now. As such main tourism sites are being ignored internally. Following the latest developments on the field, it’s hard to ignore the fact that DMOs need to go where the consumer is, instead

convincing the consumer to come to them. To compete with the a forementioned commercial websites, DMO websites should be comprehensive and give visitors all the tools they need such us mash up maps, live web cams & YouTube video channels and a Flickr image gallery to capture the special elements of the destination. DMO websites also need to act as one-stop-shops for the visitors by providing a wide range of information for the destination’s product as well as centralized hotel & event tickets reservation systems. Expect DMO website to attract travelers early in the buying process through inbound links, organic searches and

at the same time, to help nurture consumers until they’re ready to buy. To accomplish these aggressive goals, websites must offer content that is compelling – not just to humans seeking travel information at all stages of the buying process, but also to search engines on a quest for relevance. Clearly, developing a successful and attractive travel website for today’s sophisticated Internet marketplace requires more than a flashy interface. It requires an understanding of what consumers are searching for and how you can leverage Internet search technology to maximize site traffic. The effectiveness of your site hinges on the strategies and decisions you make right from the beginning.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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CONTENT OF DMO SITES The travel business media and information companies are an archaic lot. For being the chroniclers of the world’s largest and most creative industry, most of these companies have not managed the legacy-todigital transition well, and have not been able to take advantage of the latest and best digital tools to scale their businesses in digital.

Since a DMO’s role is not only to promote the destination as a whole but also the tourism businesses and suppliers in that destination, considering the latest web developments they need to go where the consumer is instead of trying to convince them to come to them. Towards this direction a DMO website should be visually appealing, easy to use and providing value adding features and information in order to keep the visitors. Considering therefore that 43% of mobile phone users are now carrying a smartphone, and more than one third of mobile users plan to book their travel on their phones in the next year, DMOs need to be looking at smartphone marketing.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

The position of Google as the de facto search engine of choice rests squarely on the company’s ability to deliver the most relevant search results. They go to great lengths to evaluate every page on every website, indexing and ranking each based on its relevance to a particular search term. 1. Sell Experience: Your destination website need to sell the experience of your city or region. The design needs to be of todays day and age and include multimedia and interactive modules. 2. Quality and Relevant Information: Too often vital information is missing, like a complete listing of restaurants and shops. The most important

thing here is how to display the information. Lists or tables with names of establishments and attractions with their address phone numberor to go beyond and use maps. 4. Event Calendar: Showing all the upcoming events like races, concerts, festivals, local holiday’s traditional festivities, expositions? Not only in an event calendar, but also highlighted on the home page. 5. Search Engine Saturation: Each click is another vote to the credibility of the site and will help build more authority on the more competitive searches and keywords hence focus should be on the saturation of the search engines.

Selling experience Fiji Tourism

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

3. Map Mash-up: Map mashups come with filters depending on what you are looking for. These map mash-ups also help tremendously with search engine rankings as site. 6. Languages: You need to cater to them in their local language when it comes to your website. Not because they would not understand English or another language. Keep in mind that search engines will always show first sites in local languages, so if you want to penetrate potential markets translation is the name of the game. If we look at the European market you should at least have your website in seven to ten languages.

Mash–up map tourism

7. Getting There : Yes you should not only promote what to do in your destination but also make it easier to get there by providing information of nearest airports, railway stations and provide links for with online ticketing. 8.Navigation: We really have to make sure navigation is well optimized and the site stays user friendly. Ease of use can be achieved with filters, text and visual navigation. It is important to keep the site well organized and intuitive. 9. Distribute Content: We have to step beyond the point that the content we develop content only for our own website. Just like importing content by

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

using hotel review RSS Feeds, we can make our content available for other websites to use. For instance hotels could use our maps through GEORSS feeds for a tourist guide section on their own website. They could pick and choose what they would like to display by applying filters. It will save them the time to write this content once again. Using the RSS feeds they will create links pointing back to DMO site. 10. Convert: We are talking not only about hotels but you should also sell tickets to cultural events, tourist attractions, museums, sport activities. You could also redirect the consumer to the hotel website to book directly.

11. Social media: Websites have given destination marketing organizations a marketing tool more precise than they ever had before. Once a DMO has identified its most promising tourist groups it can reach those groups through social media sites designed just for them, or create a new one. You aren’t reaching out blindly. You know who responds to you and you can effortlessly measure the results of your campaigns for purposes of continuous improvement.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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DEVELOPING A CONTENT STRATEGY On today’s Internet, travel websites take very different forms. Many are simply online travel brokers, helping users find the best deal and book their vacations through the sites. Some rely primarily on the allure and romance of travel photography to create interest. Others are all facts and figures. The sheer variety of website

content approaches makes one wonder: which is most effective for tourism and destination brands. Upon closer inspection we find that successful travel sites do two things very well. They deliver content that answers the consumer’s need for information (a mix that includes romance, simple logistics and booking information) and present content that motivates the reader to take action. This double-edged content solution doesn’t happen by accident or by luck – it’s the result of a wellconstructed web content strategy.

Luna–Nevarez and Hyman (2012) that "a DMO website should satisfy the information preferences of likely viewers while assisting with the basic commercial transactions required by destination visitors, such as hotel booking, event booking, or travel package purchasing." DMO website attributes belonging to the categories of navigation and functionality were not rated as being exceptionally important in the phase of information collection. However, it should be pointed out that website functionality was also not the primary focus of this research but rather emphasis was placed on the importance of information. Practical information and service providers’

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

information were also rated as being less important. This can be explained by the fact that general information is important to tourists in the initial stage of information search when selecting a destination, while practical information gains in importance in the subsequent travel stages. Developing a content strategy is simply the process of identifying the type of content that will best enable you to communicate why a traveler should choose your destination or resort above all others, and then planning and creating that content. There is a huge opportunity for destinations who make a commitment to developing content that competes for inbound links and organic search. Organic search VisitFlorida.com makes an interesting design decision by putting search front and center on the homepage. It prompts visitors to search for something right away and personalize the information they are seeking. It shows an effort to give visitors the most important information as quickly as possible.

TRAVEL ECOSYSTEM

Travel Ecosystem looks at how different factors that influence the tourism industry are interlinked. * DMO to OTA converted 32% higher but not the other way around. Partnership between OTA and DMO potential to drive conversions.

Currency exchange rate Economic cycles : boom and slowdown Foreign exchange earning

Hotel Services Spas Medical and ayurvedic Treatments Event Management

Start Ups *Online Travel Agencies (OTA) Travel Agents Knowledge Planning and Infrastructure Human Resource Development Knowledge Booking Customer Services In Destination Concierge

Society Natural Factors (General condition of human existence and habits, customs, mentality, language) General Infrastructure Climate, spatial and geographical setting Economic cycles booms and slowdown Newspaper TV / Magazine Social Media Campaigns Information Dessimation

ECONOMY

HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

TRAVEL AGENCY

ENVIRONMENT

Laws and Regulation Politics Quality Managment Infrastructure Economic Development Funding Budget (Financial support) Political systems

GOVERNMENT

TECHNOLOGY

TOURIST

DMO

Mobile Internet / Web Social Media DMO Website Maps Web Marketing Visually appeaaling and easy to use Provide value adding features and information

Leading and coordinating Local Authorities Advertising Marketing Destination promotion including branding and image. Unbaised informationation services. Operation / Facilitation of booking. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Public Relationship, Brand management, Market Research

TRAVEL INDUSTRY

TRAVEL MEDIA

Airlines Railways Buses Transport Systems Road Accessibilities

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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Looking for inspiration in drop down menu

THE ONLINE TRAVEL SEARCH FOR INSPIRATION Travel decisions are to a large extent driven by hedonistic and emotional issues. If we can uncover a uniquely relevant and deliverable promise and communicate it using vivid mental imagery, we can successfully differentiate a destination from its competitors and convince more people to come.

So what do today’s travelers want from travel and destination marketers? Our recent research tells us it’s basically the same thing they’ve always been searching for — inspiration. Before they were inspired by the posters hanging on travel agency walls and through travelouges like Lonely Planet and Fodors. They found inspiration in glossy brochures and on the pages of travel magazines and watching high definition travel programming on television. Today, by contrast, a full two-thirds of people planning travel completely bypass these other media and consult only the internet. There’s a multitude of online sources to look for travel information through email, newsletters, search engines, destination, tourism and discounters, consumer review

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

sites, booking sites, Travel 2.0 sites like TravelMuse, blogs, social bookmarking and tagging sites, Wikipedia, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Webshots, Ebay, MySpace, FaceBook etc. The only problem is that they’re searching for inspiration in pulldown menus, online forms instead of inspirational imagery and engaging stories, their first impressions are more often lackluster thumbnail photos alongside a low-price offer. Instead of finding inspiration, for many consumers today, the entire process of researching and planning a trip starts with finding the cheapest flight, hotel room and rental car available. They haven’t even decided what to buy, and someone’s trying to make a deal.

'Authenticity' and the travel industry By Arnie Weissmann For most tourists, "independent travel" means prearranged, nongroup travel that is, in fact, dependent on arrangements made by a travel agents (who in turn makes arrangements with hoteliers or tour operators). But there are millions of true independent travelers out there who don't intersect very often with the travel industry, except, perhaps, to buy an airline ticket at the cheapest rate they can find on the Web. They may stay in local inns, a B&B or a vacation rental home. They'll grab a meal at a street kiosk, shoulder to shoulder with locals.

It could be argued that true independents spend less and get more of what some industry-assisted travelers pay a premium for: authenticity. Before "experiential travel" became an industry buzz phrase, it could be said, fairly, that the more one spent, the more likely one was to move further from an authentic experience. The affluent bought a cocoon; they chose to be pampered within the confines of beautiful properties. But authenticity" came onto the menu for even the very wealthy, industry-assisted traveler. A new traveler is emerging who rejects the symbols and trappings of old-guard status symbols. And one way this has impacted travel is that the young and

affluent don't want to wall themselves up in the iconic, classic hotels that their parents aspired to inhabit, and they aren't satisfied with only tokens of local color. Part of its appeal is that people want to discover places other people don't know about.You have to understand what it is you're selling and sell it as it is. You need to empathize and screen out those who don't really want an in-depth experience. Behind the shift in travelers' consciousness, Morgan-Grenville senses a rejection of ubiquity.That feeling of ubiquity permeates the travel experience today. I see the same 'local' souvenir, made in China, sold

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

in countries on opposite sides of the world." Indeed, the move toward "authenticity" might in large measure be a reaction to globalization. When foreign landscapes are decorated with familiar brands, travelers might wonder why they bothered to travel in the first place. And, ironically, it might now require, in some cases, the assistance of the travel industry to point consumers in the direction of authenticity. This creates a marketing challenge. Travel agents and the travel supplier industry have to identify a way to penetrate that market? Only a very small percentage of the millions of independent vacation travelers seem interested in the authentic experiences. Most of the

millions of independent travelers are driving in the family car to a destination within 500 miles of their home. In fact, for many years, about 80% of all vacation and personal travel away from home has been like that. Search for authentic experiences is limited to travellers - the elite type of tourist who has the time and interest to explore how other cultures operate. Modern mass tourists have some degree of interest in foreign places and people.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

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BUILDING A BRAND Before embarking on a brand building process it is important for destination managers to clearly establish a strategic direction for the destination, i.e. agreeing on an inspiring future vision and a fundamental market positioning, i.e. on what basis will the destination differentiate itself from its competitors in the client’s mind.

A brand’s personality has both a head and a heart – its head refers to the logical brand features, while its heart refers to its emotional benefits and associations. Brand propositions and communications can be based around either a brand’s head or its heart: head communications convey a brand’s rational values, while heart communications reveal its emotional values and associations. A brand could be defined as a unique combination of product characteristics and added values, both tangible and non-tangible. Psychographic Positioning For a tourist with leisure/ recreation motive, the positioning happens from a collective conscience of discovering one’s own heritage, or connecting with the spirit of national integrity.

Experiencial Positioning Audio, visual stimulation is a key aspect in this regard, as it not only forms the quickest cognitive connect, but also plays a key role in defining the state tourism image. The brand is not only a trademark (logo, strapline or icon), but an experience and image that signals a value system and positioning. It establishes the kind of experience that the visitor can expect from the destination. If the destination does not have a USP, another option is to group together or package similar products to develop a special selling proposition (SSP) than basing their positing on physical factors such as climate, geography etc.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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INFOGRAPHIC Data collected from various sources is gathered together to make more sense of the data collected. The relevant information was pulled out and organized in an infographic. The infographic connects various aspects like content of DMO sites and branding.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

DMO

Insufficient knowledge of tourist online information preferences and search behaviour. DMO sites need to go where the consumer is.

Destination Management Organization

· Look good

S I T E

Expect your website to attract travellers early in the buying process. Help nurture consumers until they are ready to buy with CONTENT THAT IS COMPELLING at all stages of the search process.

· Good CONTENT · engage your AUDIENCE · easy to use · sell experience

viewers find it Useful 83% Influential 40% Reliable 73%

· quality and relevant information · SEO’s and Meta tags · Import content through RSS feedsDistribute content through RSS feeds. · Convert sell tickets

Disclaimers, privacy polocies, terms and conditions and copyright information enhance the credibility of the website.

· Language · How to get there - Integration of booking engine, train and bus companies.

47% booked all or part of the trip online. · NAVIGATION - site should be well optimized, organized, intitive, user-friendly.

Feedback forms - pre decided fields to bt filled by visitors - structured way of receiving information · Ease of use can be achieved through filters. · Target consumers at the right time - 45 days leading upto a booking a consumer will conduct 38 visitors to travel site. Know how to influence the decision making process. Decisions made by tourists prior to departture are likely to limit the choice of alternative purchase later in vacation.

INFO MANAGEMENT Leverage internet search technology to maximize site traffic. The effectiveness of your site hinges on strategies and decisions you make right from the beginning.

usefulness in researching destination Travel Review Sites 59% Search Engine 77% DMO site 62%

48.4 % found out about DMO website through search engine.

Partnership between Online Travel Agencies (OTA) and DMO has the potential to drive conversions. DMO to OTA conversion led to 32% higher chances of booking and not the other way around.

Finding information by search optimize content with SEO’s. 75% of tourism destination visitors are new visitors STRATEGIES AND MARKETING Four Quadrants of Marketing Can be Do Eat used for all Stay Shop audiences.

PROMOTE DESTINATION Then promote HOTELS TOURISTS ATTRACTIONS RESTAURANTS THEATRE SPORTS ACTIVITIES

Who dominates trip planning? Online travel agencies (OTA) 11.2% Airline sites Trip review sites 6.8% DMO site 6.4%

47.2%

General information is important to tourists in the initial stages of information search when selecting a destination, while practical information gains in importance in subsequent stages.

All activities of the department should be appropriately reflected on the website.

DMO website should satisfy information preferences of likely viewers while assisting the basic commercial transactions required by destination viewers.

Organization should categorize the information generated within the organization as Government to Government Government to Employee Government to citizen Government to business

Word of mouth is the most effective and cn influence consumer opinion 38% friends and family recommendation for deciding to visit.

Goals · Break vision into defined outcomes · Be medium / long term focused / be realistic · Build upon the destination’s strength and take best of available growth opportunies.

· SOCIAL MEDIA trend is upwards

Social media envy or sometimes know as the instagram effect has a powerful impact on travel consumer behaviour.

70% of all travel planning begins online majority of traffic comes from google

Without proper planning and management tourism can damage the destination evironment, cause social and cultural conflict and alienate communities that host tourism.-Eco-tourism

DMO visitors visit only once do a poor job un delivering content and experience desired by consumers. Most users spend less than 30 seconds on the site.

Its almost overload cut through the clutter and provide consumers an accurate pont of view based on their personal needs.

CONTENT

TOOLS

Mash up maps Videos Youtube videos Flicker image gallery Use Computer and laptop to find information Use smartphone Pakage deals Special Events Activity Information Area maps Attractions General Information Read travel reviews Post rating reviews

Citizens expecting up to date information about activities, events, schemes, programmes.

82%

24% 60% 15%

81% 73%

54%

32%

67% 74% 82% 74% 84% 57%

Website should be oriented towards its prospective audience.

Develop product accordingly to customer’s needs and wants and desires. Understand a potential customer and how they think.

DEVELOPING A CONTENT STRATEGY Is simply the process of identifying the type of content that will enable you to communicate why travellers should choose your destination above all. Deliver content that answers the consumers need for information. (Romance + Simple Logistics + Booking Information)

Rising demand for authentic and engaging travel experience. Rampant interest in local cultural immersion.

Can’t be all things to all people. Focus on a few demographic you want to reach while try not to alienate other target groups.

ONLINE TRAVEL SEARCH FOR INSPIRATION Travellers have always have been searching for inspiration. Travel decisions are to a large extent driven by hedonistic and emotional issues rather than reason especially in leisure travel. Communicate using vivid imagery. Search for authentic experiences is limited to travellers - the elite type of tourist who has the time and interest to explore how other cultures operate. Modern mass tourists have some degree of interest in foreign places and people.

TARGET GROUPS Travellers have different attitudes towards trip planning. Some really like the nitty-gritty of researching potential destination, hotels, flights and contructing itineraries. But others find this process ovewhelming tedious.

MARKET SEGMENTATION Travellers have different attitudes towards trip planning. Some really like the nitty-gritty of researching potential destination, hotels, flights and contructing itineraries. But others find this process ovewhelming tedious.

Branding should focus attention on key target markets. Therefore research is required to identify key target markets. Major impact on key target market and benefits from a ripple effect that will affect other segments.

BRAND EXPERIENCE

EXTENDING THE PROPOSITION

Brand experience differs from motivational and affective state concepts. Brand experience does not presume a motivational state. Experience can happen when consumers do not show interest in or have a personal connection with the brand. Moreover brands that consumers are not necessarily that evolve the strongest experience.

Whilst its important to clearly communicate the brand proposition, this alone is not enough. You need to do this in a way that’s personally relevant to your target audience. In order to do this, you need to go beyond the proposition.

Google and travel researcher are both searching for the same thing. Relalvant information from which they can make decisions. The challenge is determing what your brand has to offer that is relevant to both.

BRAND Before embarking on a brand buillding process it is important for destination managers to clearly establish a strategic direction for the destination agreeing on a inspiring future vision and fundamnetal market positioning what basically differentiates itself from its competitors in clients minds.

BRAND PROPOSITION is a promise of the kind of experience that the visitor can expect from the destination signals a value system and positioning.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

ANALYSIS THE DIFFERENT TOURISM CIRCUITS Braj (Agra-Mathura) Circuit Agra, Mathura, Bareilly, Meerut etc.

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UTTAR PRADESH STATE TOURISM SCENARIO The 5 circuits cover the whole state and are intended to provide for overall tourism promotion.

Wild Life-Eco Adventure Circuit. Dudhwa National Park etc.

Implication: All location are given equal weightage for development. Local picnic getaway destinations are included and treated on the same platform as other location, attracting toursists tourists from other region states. Geographical dispersion within an identified belt or circuit theme is extensive and wide spread.

Vindhya-Varanasi Circuit Varanasi, Allahabad, Mirzapur etc.

National tour opeartors focus more on standard routes.

Buddhist Circuit Shravasti, Sarnath, Kushinagar etc.

Coverage of other locations is lacking.

Awadh Circuit Lucknow, Kanpur, Faizabad etc. Bundelkhand Circuit Jhansi, Mahoba, Deogarh etc.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

U.P.’s share in in Indian tourism: 24% of the domestic tourist traffic and 33% of the foreign tourist. The total average money spent by a foreign tourist in U.P is around Rs 32,000 compared to the national average of approximately Rs 51,000 per tourist.

Research from the perspective of destinations, religion, arts, crafts and architechture, music and dance (folk and classical), cultural practices, toys, artifacts, festivals. Research from guide books, broschures, information booklets worked as more reliable source of information than the internet. The different materials were collected from the tourism office in Lucknow.

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Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

KEYWORDS

A list of keywords were created from the research and similar ones they were grouped together. Images served as a source for the concepts.

Concept 1:

Old world charm Purity Spirituality through religion Mythology Past Heritage Pilgrim Treasure chest Revered Traditional Folklore Fables, lengends

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Concept 1:

Refined Etiqutte Intricate Finer things in life Graceful Sophistication Exquisite Luxurious Bon vivant Epicurean Connoisseur Craftmanship

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Concept 1:

Grand / Grandeur Ornate Heritage Magnificent Festive Awe-inspiring / Stupendous Stupendous Noble Opulent Luxurious Imperial Kingly Grandiose Extravagant

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Concept 4:

Romance Devotional Sublimity Spiritual Holy Transcendental Divine Faith Warmth Laid back

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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SWOT ANALYSIS FOR U.P. Strengths

Religious sites of tremendous importance for various faiths. Two major destinations in India for international tourists – Agra and Varanasi. Various Indian civilizations – large monuments a testimony across various regions of U.P. National acclaimed craft centres. Kapilavastu and Khushinagar presently serve famous Buddhist destinations. Good mix of domestic and foreign tourists in places like Sarnath, Agra.

Bundelkhand and various sites within the circuit like Deogarh are promising but need to be developed from scatch.

Opportunities

Scope for attracting tourists in the cultural heritage profile segment. Sucessful tourism promption requires integration of tourism planning with infrastructuredevleopment agencies as well as loal community involvement or support. Tourism promotion development may have to consider heterogeneous packages covering a limited number of locales. Leveraging on existing lead tourism destination from being end destinations to gateway points for tourism within U.P.

Regigious tourism – leveraging important destinations in U.P. to attract untapped nascent segment of high income segments whose latent desire for tourism can be converted.

Weakness and Threats

Monument maintainance and signage facilities at sites inadequate. Limited local community involvement and pride in heritage preservation. Large number of general interest tourists and international tourists visiting only two sites (Agra and Varanasi) which implies limited perception knowledge about other offerings of U.P. Domestic religious pilgrim tourists are predominantly low income tourists

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

who have limited impact on local economy. U.P. has large number of cities with religious sites but barring a few there is no geographical cluster of religious cluster of sites. This implies that it is difficult to promote a religious circuit for tourists, covering all sites of religious interst. Connectivity to various destinations need to be improved. All sites are currently centres for pure pilgrim not general interest tourists of religious interests. Poor awareness about the places even among the local citizens.

Case Study: Kerala Clearly defined tourists packages with defined attractions. Defined segments: hills, beaches, adventure etc. Leveraged on traditional crafts and culture to promote tourism. Lead product concepts: Ayurvedic mssage and rejuvenation activity being combined with resort and leisure tourism ‘ backwater’ travel in houseboats. The tourism target profile in addition to middle class travellers include: high income tourists travellers both domestic and overseas with an effort to increase the average stay period per tourist overtime.

Kerala Tourism campaign features true stories of people finding love, bliss and peace in Kerala. The target group for the new campaign is the international traveller, Kerala Tourism advertises heavily in countries such as the UK, Germany, France, Italy and other European Union countries.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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UTTAR PRADESH TOURISM WEBSITE ANALYSIS–Surface and structure The Homepage Home page to inside pages. the homepage varies more significantly from the rest of the site. At first glance the website looks very cluttered. The colour is unappealing and the website does not inspire to explore. There are too many options that call for attention and the eyes go everywhere.The sepia like tone does not do much highlight the assets. Content is seen front and centre. There is no search button. Imags except from the automated slide show are too small to take any notice of. The website uses parallax scrolling. The site elements are in constant motion which makes the wbsite difficult to explore and the interactions are not as crisp. The homepage and few other subsequent pages maintain an aesthetic of old

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

world charm and heritage and the textured look has been used to add to it. Navigation Bar There are three kinds of navigation panels. The main navigation panel is a drop down menu which has lead to duplication of menu items.

The Drop Down Menu

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

The Grid and Layout The

different parts of the website hompage are placed so close together that it makes the website cluttered. The gid is both horizonatally and vertically aligned. The colours are used consistently. The layout as seen here is visibly split into three dominant and clearly outline site sections.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

The different parts of the website hompage are placed so close together that it makes the website cluttered. The gid is both horizonatally and vertically aligned. The colours are used consistently. The layout as seen here is visibly split into three dominant and clearly outline site sections.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Moving on to the inside page the grid is not similar to the homepage but look and feel wise its pretty similar to the homepage. The grid is again both horizontally and verically alligned. Within the vertical grid the contents are so closely placed together that the page seems cluttered. The colours use does not help in highlighting the content. Aesthetically speaking nothing is eye catching. Background eats into the content. The secondary navigation bar comes on the upper part of the grid. In the layout there is space at the top which has not been utilized well.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Negative space is not well balanced

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Colour Palette

The background is darker while the text colour is light or dark brown. The downside of using such a colour palette is that it does not allow them to use really colorful photos which vary between various palettes which clashes between the site-design and the colourful imagery that they often feature. The colours used are warm.

Placement of the Logo The

animation used while presenting the logo makes it really difficult to remember it hence decreasing the recall value. In subsequent pages the logo has been used inconsistently.

Typography There is no hiearchy introduced using text. There are two typefaces used.

Main colours

Accent colours

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

inside pages are significantly different that the homepage and the colours differ drastically. There is more of white space and hence the images standout The visual division of content and it is laid out both horozontally and verically. Aesthetically these pages seem more clean and crisp compared to the homepage. Hiearchy in typography gives it more visual depth while maintaining the clean look.The horizontal lines that run horizonatally highlight the important sections.

Negative space is well balanced equal spaces are maintained.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Typography The inside pages uses greater variation of typefaces which helps in creating hiearchy.

Colour A different colour is used for each destination but overall white remains the dominant colour.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

sub-menus The content expands horizonatally along the grid in a similar fashion as the previous page which leads upto it. There are no breadcrumbs navigation used anywhere in the entire website instead a list of options open up in the side panel.

Negative space is well balanced equal spaces are maintained.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

The fourth kind of page particularly uses a vertically alligned grid. The photo gallery uses thumbnails which when expanded beomes an automated slideshow. But the varying size of thumbnails (of images on the left and different options on the right) bring focus onto the images.

The webpage the content is concentrated on the right side.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

The Different Kinds of Webpages. Visually there are

two different kinds of webpages which makes us feel that there are two different websites instead of one. Some aspect of homepage should carry onto the subsequent pages to ensure consistency.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

The Content

The content can be redundant. At times there are too many links popping up at the same time leading upto the same content.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

The presentation of the content places equal emphasis on the practical and general information that could help create awareness. Relevance of information gets lost in the relative placement of information. Content presentation should be such that it evokes a certain emotional connect. The tone of voice is staid, dignified and honest which works well for a state which has centuries old history.

The most important piece of information has been set apart by using italics. But again it gets lost in the sea of information.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

The tone of voice here is quite poetic in contrast to the other pages but the visuals are not a match to the words.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

There is no visual inspiration attached to these tours to give a better insight into them.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Too much content and very few images does not inspire to explore the site.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Back End Elements The tourism

websites is entirely static. It remains the same every time you visit. Visitors never give them information, there are no polls, bulletin boards, or referral forms. If you want to find something on the website, there is no search box, you just look around until you find it. But such sites are growing more rare as the internet becomes an ever greater part of people’s lives. Modern sites are searchable. They offer new images on each visit. They allow the user to request more information, or to post their own thoughts. Hence the website needs to be updated based on the current trends.

No search button on the homepage.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Tourism Video PDFs Heritage Walk Agra

Navigation Structure Too many options moving constantly make the site initially difficult to navigate. The same options appear in a drop down menu. After selection a menu item the options are pretty limited. The interactions are crisp but there are very few. The maps are the only interactive elements. The navigation is predictable and natural. A logical, consistently named site organization allows users to make successful predictions about where to find things. Consistent methods of organizing and displaying information permit users to extend their knowledge from familiar pages to unfamiliar ones. Efficient web site design is largely a matter of balancing the relation

of major menu or home pages with individual content pages. The goal is to build a hierarchy of menus and content pages that feels natural to users and doesn’t mislead them or interfere with their use of the site.

Places of Interest

About the City Accomodation

Photo Gallery

Travel Information

Restaurants and Hospitals

Sports and Recreation

Photos

PDFs Taj Mahal

Agra Fort

Allahabad

Ayodhya

Web sites with too shallow an information hierarchy depend on massive menu pages that can degenerate into a confusing laundry list of unrelated information.Menu schemes can also be too deep, burying information beneath too many layers of menus. Having to navigate through layers of nested menus before reaching real content is frustrating.The site is essentially a single-tier hierarchy. Navigation tends to be a simple list of subpages, plus a link for the home page.

Ahicchatra

Bithoor

PDFs

(List of UPSTDC employees retirement date from 2008-2040)

Crafts and Cuisine

Agra Zardozi

Chikankari of Lucknow Zardosi work of Varanasi Metalware Carpet and Floor Coverings

The destination link are linked to government orders an other information which is of little use for a tourist but it does not link to crafts and cuisine section nor to the craftwork section which is of much more relevance for a tourist. Hand Printing

New Circuits in U.P.

Agra Braj Circuits

Buddhist Circuits

PDFs

Registration for Sangh for Buddhist Circuits

PDFs

Bundelkhand Circuits Varanasi and Vindhyachal Circuits

Shopping

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Although hierarchical sites organize their content and pages in a tree of site menus and submenus off the home page, this hierarchy of content subdivisions should not become a navigational straitjacket for the user who wants to jump from one area of the site to another. Most site navigation interfaces provide global navigation links that allow users to jump from one major site area to another without being forced to back up to a central home page or submenu which does happens in the case of Uttar Pradesh Tourism website.

Complex educted audiences

Web-Linked site

Hierarchical site

Sequence site Simple basic content, training sites Linear narrative Predictable structure

Nonlinear, hyperlinked Flexible, may be confusing

The Uttar Pradesh Tourism website has a mixture of linear and hiearchical site which limits the interactivity of the site.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Information Architechture needs regrouping. If I have to reach this part of the website and explore I will have to return to the homepage. There is no link from the navigation bar on the inside page to the menu items on homepage.

Inside ‘destination’ page.

Homepage dynamic navigation panel

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

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SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT based on the analysis

Breadcrumbs are important.

Homepage to inside pages – should carry the story even aesthetically.

Avoid content redundancy and have a better linked site.

Call for action should be clearly distinguished from the rest.

Relevance of information is important – what are travellers searching for.

Grid should be consistent and well balanced.

There should be consistency in the tone of voice.

Colour should be used in a way that they do not gain precedence over the photographs.

Content should not get lost in the sea of information.

The different site sections should be clearly differentiated.

Have a system to display content and visuals consistently.

Should visuals take precedence over information.

Have more interactive elements. Avoid duplication of content. Should have consistent of organizing and displaying information. Hierarchy of menus and content pages should feel natural to users. Sitemap menus should not be too shallow. Should have the option to jump from one site section to another. Link together information which is of more importance to tourists. Have consistent theme – have aunique brand proposition.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

• Facebook Subscribers for various states Uttar Pradesh Madhya Pradesh

5997 2,66,625

Gujarat

7,35,517

Kerala

1,083,407

NOTE : Number of subcribers for the month of november

SOCIAL MEDIA On Social media websites have given destination marketing organizations a marketing tool more precise than they ever had before. Once a DMO has identified its most promising client groups it can reach those groups through social media sites designed just for them, or create a new one. Social media sites can be utilized to reach and draw in people with specific interests, activity preferences, identified

demographics or regional locations that match those of a DMO’s target audiences.

What didn’t appeal to most people is Newpaper articles, extremely religious content and close up shots.

Uttar Pradesh tourism facebook account is more inspirational and infromative than the website. But compared to Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala facebook account. But it was instrumental in highlighting the kind of content people are engaging with.

The strategy that you can derive from this facebook page is that instead of destinations promote areas of special interest. For example kanpur can help draw interest into monuments in Bithoor.

The kind of content people engaged with is Buddhist sites, Unusual Perspective of familiar places, cuisines etc, wildlife, food, iconic imagery, road less travelled, lesser known but equally attractive destinations, stories, details, events like mahotsav.

Taglines used – sanctified by gods, divine tastes, romancing the relic of bundelkhand, the grandeur of incredible India.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

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TRENDS IN WEBDESIGN 2014 – 2015 Trends are not only a prediction for the upcoming year. They reflect a natural interest in how all aspects of web design will evolve over the next few years. It’s possible that in less than 12 months many of these trends and technologies which now seem to be blossoming will have disappeared completely.

But nevertheless some trends collected from varoius sites :

interaction to take place between the user and the website.

Unique typography – using fonts with personality adds a little personality and uniqueness to the design.

Large, responsive images and large photo backgrounds. Also manipulated imagery.

Flat design – emphasis on legibility and usability and lesser skeuomorphic design.

Videos in place of text, simple colour schemes and simplified content.

The subtle hover effect are a delight to use. CSS tansitions can help achieve them. Scroll to page sections scrolling will continue to dominate clicking. It’s more intuitive, easier to do, cuts down on load times and allows for more dynamic

Dropping the sidebar. No parallax scroll. They can be used if its a conceptual construct. Card Design Will Continue. HTML can be used to animate parts of a site.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Simplicity, app inspired design, responsive single page websites. How the content be structured will become a designer’s job. Single page websites and scalable vector graphics. Unique aesthetic appeal. Liqiud design – is flexible design system accommodates a variety of browsers, screen resolutions, operating systems and monitors.

Skeuomorphic design.

Flat Design.

Card based design.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

• Brand Fans Partners

USERS. Influencers

Employees Customers

Job Candidates

TRAVEL ACTIVITY-BASED USER SEGMENTATION The Users are the customers, employees, job, candidates, business prospects and partners, brand fans, members and other influencers who influencers who interact with a company through digital media and technology. This may be through an intranet, a mobile app, an online job application form, a website, customer relationship management software, a

facebook page or any other element of a company’s internal and external digital footprint. In short, users are defined as anyone who interacts with a company through digital media and technology. Customers will naturally follow. Thanks to social media, bloggers and friends all combine to create a large swarm of public opinion that shapes brands and drives sales. A company’s user base often outweights its customers base. To attract users engage with them and develop long

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

term relationships with them? Give users the one thing they all want : simplicity. When a user interacts with a company through digital technologies, s/he wants to accomplish what s/he set out to do. S/he doesn’t want to spend even a second wondering how a website works or what to click on next, s/he wants it to happen. If it doesn’t s/he’ll will reject the service, website, app etc. While experienced travel professionals may have an intuitive understanding of who their travelers are, segmentation is not just based upon demographic data such as the number of trips taken or nights on the road, but also on attitudes related to travel and more. Understanding which category your own travelers fall into requires a multi-prong approach

Only a small percentage of the world’s population takes an international trip in any one year.Demand for tourism goods and services is not randomly or equally distributed throughout a population. Minorities within a population are often likely to consume a disproportionately high volume of the tourism product. The agenda is to develop the product according to the customer’s needs, wants and desires. To understand a potential customer and how they think, in developing the marketing proposition and messages.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

What does the average DMO website visitor look like? Where do they come from? How long is their attention span and what are they looking for? Regardless of destination size, assets or budget, the majority of tourism destination website visitors are new visitors. A good thing for tourism destinations. Unfortunately, while DMOs receive a lot of new traffic and new visitors they do a poor job in delivering the content and experience desired by the consumer. In theory, people visit the site, find exactly what they are looking for and don’t need to return. However most users (65% or so), spend less than 30 seconds on the website. Finding information on your website,

about the most popular tourism attraction in your town, in less than 30 seconds will not convert lookers to bookers. The visitor has to engage with the website. Tourism websites can be a tricky beast. For some areas, where there are very specific attractions, designing their site can be simple. But for areas that have a host of attractions it can be difficult to design a site that’s representative of the area and appeals to everyone. culture fanatics and families isn’t exactly straightforward.

Hence focus on a few demographics you want to reach while trying not to alienate any other target groups for the best result.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

This was achieved in three stages Stage 1: General information, the wide variety and scope of travellers. Listing down the possible demographics within different segments. Demographic profile characterization based on : gender, age, income levels, education levels, ethnicity, search engine use, media habits. Segmentation 1: Demography Domestic : College students, students, school, youth – salaried. Family (+4 member), Groups(+ 12 members), old couples (retired). International : Backpackers, family, groups, Business expat (expatriate), exchange students, participation in events, NRI’s, couples/old couples.

Segmentation 2: Circuit wise Buddhist circuit, Bundelkhand, Braj (Agra – Mathura) circuit, Awadh circuit, Vindhya – Varanasi circuit, Wild – Life Eco Adventure circuit.

What mostly promoted the visitor’s decision to choose a destination?

What do search engine users most often seek?

Information on the web.

Overnight Accomodations, Destination and nearby destinations), Vacation Activities – hiking, shopping food etc. Air travel, Road Trips – How to get there, booking (best deals), package trips, social media, sharing – reviews, photo sharing, cultural events, sports, activities, maps – directions, weather, political situation.

Geographically close destination.

Friends or relatives recommendation.

38% 32%

World renowned must see destination. 22% 15%

Cheap deal/special offer.

14% 8%

Travel agency recommendation. Article in a magazine/newspaper.

Movie realized in the country

Appealing advertising on it.

Heard about in the TV news.

From the 2010 DMO Website User Survey from the Strategic Marketing Group

The subsequent page maps out the diiferences between domestic and international tourists.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Stage 2: This stage involved targeting internet users through social media and conducting travel agents individually to understand their travel habits and to get in touch with the ground level reality.

Interviews with travel agents

Road trips? Have you used any online travel ling website. If yes which one which one? How far in advance of travelling do you book your trip?

Question asked :

What aspect of travel planning do you find most tedious?

How much money do people spend on an average per trip?

How many different websites do you go through while planning a trip?

How do they gather information for a destination?

Do you think the information you get online is relaible?

How do you use ther internet for travel? Motivation?

Do you plan itineraries? What are the the hassles you encounter while planning?

Which online travel site in your opinion is the most innovative in providing easy to use services.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Travel agency 1: Travel Net Started in 1990 became full fledged agency by 1997. For Uttar Pradesh the budget he feels for a family of five should be around Rs 40, 000 which is the budget per person for Kerala. Travel Agency : Travel Net Proprietor : Mr Kapil Mishra Place : Lucknow

There are two types of travelers he has encountred. One takes only transportation facilities. and the other whose has specific needs.

travel agency, who will get in contact with the local tour operator of that area who in turn makes arrangements with the local supplier who books the hotels and arranges for transport. This network helps to ensure that all the needs of the client are met. But transportation in the state is heavily affected and restricted by poor roads, infrastructure, connectivity.

He has a seperate server that uses and does not use any online portals like make my trip etc.

U.P. has natural beauty destinations being promoted so people travel mostly for religious purposes to places like Allahabad, Varanasi, Bithoor etc. The period of planning can range from seven days to two months.

He has a chain of different people employed to help in various stages of trip planning. The client approches the

Apart from the usual revenue collection the different tourists spots should also be promoted. As of now the onus falls

mostly on the travel agencies and tour operators. For the states Tamil Nadu and Orissa state tourism efforts of the government is much better than what private can provide for.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Travel agency 2: Dream Travelways The more popular spots were Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Jim Corbett. According to him the budget per person is about Rs 5,000 for a single destination. Travel Agency : Dream Travelways Proprietor : Mr Gagan Place : Lucknow

90% of the people were business travelers and leisure travelers flooded in only when the weather was good. Apart from that people visited for marriages and travel for religious purposes in groups. There is very little awareness about U.P. Infrastructure needs to be improved. Most people start one and half months or two months before the journey.

Most people book the vehicals only. Some of them make Lucknow the base, Lucknow is the capital city so is well connected to other parts of the state. Most people either travel to Agra, or say to Mathura from Delhi. Most people are not inspired to explore beyond. A major segment is that of the people travelling for religious purposes. The other circuits are largely unrepresented. There is no consolidated brand image of the state just pockets of tourist interest destinations.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Travel agency 3: Axis tourism Infrastructure problems and safety are the major issues faced by tourists in U.P. Most people travel from Delhi by road. A lot of people travel during Kumbh Mela. Travel Agency : Axis Tourism Proprietor : Manish Bhatt Place : Ahmedabad

For most people the reason for travelling to U.P. is spirituality, peace and religious purposes. But on the negative there is a certain sense of fear in the minds for their safety. Most people stay in five star hotels and plan 20 to 30 days before taking the trip.

The tourism website should be updated regularly and it should be highlighted regularly. He even provides books for reference for free to tourists so that learn a little bit more about the destination. A lot of the travelers who donot have enough knowledge about destination miss out a lot. Traveling involves both mind and body. He feels that a lot of online travel agents like make my trip have lots of hidden costs. The itineraries are emailed. Tourism promotion should address the emotional issues related to tourism. Potential tourists should be able to gain

an overall experience of the destination through the promotional efforts. A lot of destinations are not explored tourism department should promote these destination. They should also provide information for business investment.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Personas

Benefits:

The purpose of personas is to create reliable and realistic representations of the key audience segments for reference. These representations should be based on qualitative and some quantitative user research.

For Information Architects:

Personas represent a major user group for your website.

Create the overall look and feel of the website.

Express and focus on the major needs and expectations of the most important user groups. Give a clear picture of the user’s expectations and how they’re likely to use the site. Aid in uncovering universal features and functionality.

Develop informed wiredframes, interface behaviours and labelling. For Designers:

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Personas 2:

Personas 1:

Profile : • 43 yrs • married, has two children. • gets LTC(Leave Travel Concession

Profile : • 24 yrs • lives with two other roommates. Frequently travels with them. • Completed B.E. • Is a team player.

Goals and Tasks: Management and organizations are his strengths. Not deeply religious but engages in traditional practices.

Goals and Tasks: Likes to keep busy, apart from work engages in sportslike trekking. Likes to travel to nearby places.

Fictional Name : Amit Country of Residence: Pune, India Job Title: Programmer at a multinational company

Environment: Extremely comfortable on working on computer. Has his own laptop. Also access internet frequently on his android phone especially while travelling. Spends atleast 4–5 hours on an average using the internet.

Environment: Intermediate user. Accesses email everyday. Uses internet every 3 or 4 days for 2 hours or so. Books his tickets online. Fictional Name : Mr Rakesh Country of Residence: Noida, India Job Title: Branch Manager at a Nationalized bank

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Personas 3:

Personas 4: Profile : • 35 yrs • NRI (Non Resident Indian) • Has one child • Recently quit his job to begin business/ start-up. • Is an entepreneur • MBA • Was a delegate at Chamber of Commerce and industry.

Fictional Name : Anuj Country of Residence: Chicago Job Title: Business man

Goals and Tasks: Very dynamic, is tech–savvy. Is a risk taker. Looks for investment opportunities. Has investers teamed up.Travels frequently for business opportunies. Environment: Uses all technological devices and also uses social networking tools to advance his business. Is willing to work with overseas clients–conducts business overseas through internet, conference calls etc.

Profile : • 45 yrs • Sells her work on etsy • Lives with her husband children are in college • Lives in France • Is an entepreneur • BA(hons) in fine arts • Husband is also an artist. Goals and Tasks: Is creative and likes to collect different materials. Is also a collector. Likes to experience first hand. Likes travelling to nearby countries and areas seeking inspiration for her work. Fictional Name : Natalie Country of Residence: Paris Job Title: Artist, Illusttrator, Pottery, Ceramics, Crafts.

Environment: Basic internet users. Does not use social media. But looks for inspiration online. Uploads work. Creates mood board. To interact with clients.

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

Tourism Statistics of U.P. National Tourists From the report prepared by the Institute of Economic and Market Research, New Delhi ‘A long term perspective plan for development and tourism in U.P. Majority of people visiting from ubran India– 70% Kinds of Tourists Government Servents – 43.40% Businessmen – 21.31% Others – 35.29% Tourists according to religion Hindus – 95.27% Muslims – 4.14% Rest – 0.59%

According to income group Below 10,000 – 50% Between 10,000 to 15,000 – 25.8% Between 15,000 to 20,000 or above– 9.64% Tourists according to age 31yrs to 50 yrs – 65% 21yrs to 30 yrs – 19.45% 51yrs to 60 yrs – 10.81% Tourists according to destination types: Religious – 77.92% Historical and cultural– 12.73% Reasons for travelling Leisure – 62.07% Business – 19.40% To meet relatives – 6.81% Political agenda – 9.98%

Tourism according to state of residence of tourists From within the state – 34.50% Bengal – 13.33% Madhya Pradesh – 7.23% Bihar – 9.34% Delhi – 6.66% Rajasthan – 5.44% International Tourists Kinds of tourists Government Servants– 33.50% Businessmen – 18.45% Students – 15,46% Reasons for travelling To visit historical and religious places of interest – 41.45 Cultural Spots – 19.83% For vacation – 53.03%

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Number of destinations covered by foreign tourists 2 to 3 – 42.84% 4 to 5 – 20.64% More than five spots – 30.20% One destination – 6.31% Tourism according to country of residence of tourists European countries – 41.71% South East Asia – 9.91% North America – 21.12% Indian Subcontinent – 20.39% According to gender Male – 82.37% Female – 17.63% * Helped in the creation of personas

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

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CASE STUDY 1: USA DISCOVER AMERICA TYPEFACE Vag rounded Bold and clean COLOUR Bold pinks purple green Bright Working together INTERACTION Semi parallax Crisp Collapsible menu items Well linked Well linked internally Very easy to use

Easily navigable Tile based interface Very responsive Very smooth, Quick to respond to action IMAGE Varied Modern Friendly-by use of typeface Diverse Clean Adventure Confidence Natural Beauty NOTCORRORATE AMERICA but Heritage History [Very Positive]

Sense of space and vastness Country of boundless Outdoorsy Breathtaking Laid back Indigenous native culture TONE OF VOICE Friendly Expansive See, taste, wander, learn, discover, explore, read LOGO Fresh, inclusive, welcoming, diversity, Boundless possibilities

Diploma Project | Concept Development for U.P. Tourism Website

A clear call for to action with the promise of discovering something hidden. Uncovering one gem at a time. Sharing and capturing a thousand small moments of discovery.

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Well Managed content structuring 3 or 4 kind of pages Aimed at mostly international tourists SEPARATE Section for food The great outdoors Urban Excitement Culture Indulgence

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CASE STUDY 2: CANADA TYPEFACE Combines bold serif font with italics Type hierarchy visual grayscale COLOUR Black, red and white Stark black makes the images stand out. Grey accents. INTERATIONS Predictable The different site sections should have been well linked. Colours interacting stands out 3 click for information IMAGE Endless variety of landscapes Subdued yet vibrant Well contained vastness

Family vacation in Natural Settings or in country side. Unspoilt but not remote Slow down and scoialize Subtle Variety and easy. TONE OF VOICE Clever Witty Cliché (at times) Personal touch Personal experiences A little inconsistent but nevertheless interesting EXPLORE CANADA TRAVEL INFORMATION SHARE YOUR CANADA

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Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

High resolution pictures of families in vacation- utilizing vacation pictures. Not quite sure of the positioning– weak. Have successfully been able to provide all the practical information like Getting here. Visual language and imagery bit contradictory. Happy places and the colour is predominantly black. 3 clearly highlighted site sections Trip Ideas Places to go Things to Do

Every destination can be almost immediately viewed on map since Canada is such a huge countryCan be for the LOCAL and nearby American population because you can explore state wise.

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Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

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CASE STUDY 3: TENNESSEE WINTER TYPEFACE Display typeface. Elegant Magical COLOURS White and blue Red-holiday festive INTERACTION Parallax scroll Card based interesting layout Not just in two layers But many objects floating around Again from usability perspective very easily navigable Pop up window display information the rest fade into the back

IMAGE Vibe, strong musical excitement, enthusiasm, sparkle,Country glitz and glamour ROCK AND ROLL HISTORY AND HERITAGE Layout of content Card based layoutVery dynamic

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There is no hard and fast rule for grid completely does away with the grid puts together lots of interesting elements like an old guitar like to set the mood.Selling experience through historical facts rich historical homes and towns through historical homes and towns

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

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Very exclusive content Low on providing –PRACTICAL information No Sub pages HOME page is all there is. Max. of 2 pages Puts together a bundle of photograph to create interfest FIRST you see photograph SECOND –red filter with introduction of what the photograph means THIRD-more details

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

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Tone Of Voice

CASE STUDY 4: FIJI TYPEFACE Very relaxed informal Sans Serif Easy going Humanist font Aesthetic of the natural Clarity- pristine COLOUR All blue used to highlight the blue ocean.

Accomodation- Stay

Activies- Do

Events- Do

Dining- Eat

INTERACTION Very eased Navigation is easy and relaxed IMAGE Light and fun Cross cultural connections Relaxation Adventure

Clear blue sea pristine One with nature and natural seas ECO TOURISM Free without reservation Tropical HOMPAGE- Direct reflection of all of this Not an overwhelming experience but a relaxing enjoyable- Promotes that mood TONE OF VOICE Directly addresses the person Comfort Relaxing and soothing Greets in local language ‘BULA’ Authentic experiences Friendly ACCOMODATION- STAY ACTIVIES- DO EVENTS- DO DINING- EAT SHOP

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The grid from the homepage carries onto to the inside pages Very simple grid enforces the feeling of being relaxed. Card based recommendations pop up while checking out a destination. PHOTOGRAPHY and TEXT highlighted. Not too many graphic elements used promotes an all-natural feel.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

TRIP Planner-very well laid out

Island or area wise search options.

Facebook Page – links and inlets ensure subscription, more involvement, and interactive map.

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Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

• CASE STUDY 5: STOCKHOLM TYPEFACE Very few typographical variations. Sans serif clean and bold. COLOUR Teal Purple Black Stark colours Black and white classy Cosmopolitan feel INTERACTIONS Instant Unique Only one clickScrolling up and down can be a problem LAYOUT unit based layout.

IMAGE Minimalistic Modern Clean Bold Business like Almost iconic A sense of design Class Very cultural (Scandinavian sense) Museum – art and culture Vibrant Visually excitingjust a little provocation. Precise to the point Tranquil SEE and DO EAT and DRINK Understated Glamour

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Practical information Very visual Text kept to a minimum. Visual identity- used in a similar way as Delft. Stockholm- business and cultural capital. Tourism perspective as well as investment point of view. Bit overwhelming can get lost in a sea of information. Very little text is used – just the right amount of practical information on the other hand loads of visuals/ images make the site a visual treat.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Filter System Scrolling back and forth.Feels a bit static- should have a bunch of images to flip through. Back to top or a fixed navigation bar would have helped.

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Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

• CASE STUDY 6: BELIZE TYPOGRAPHY Circle- as a form show up consistently across Belizian culture. Unique and Unified Typeface- geometrical sans seriff. COLOUR 7 distinct regions- Colour coded Set of defining colours for each region add consistency to the brand. Fresh and warm- vivid colours Repetitive use of colour schemes makes it consistent INTERACTIONS Not very immersive Scrolling homepage Animation used while the homepage is loading draws you in to scroll further down.

IMAGE Ecotourism Wild Fresh Bold yet welcoming Strong yet incredibly versatile Richness- unique and cultural Intriguing Contemporary yet culturally rooted. Very Distinct Peculiar Novelty Hand crafted aesthetics Natural, Historical and cultural aspects. Certain degree of rawness. Indigenous, original and native. TONE OF VOICE Very clever use of the word be Be what you were meant to be. Be satisfied Be quenched

Be mortal Be pure Be peculiar Be alive Be unleashed Destinations Things to do – DO Getting Here Facts about Belize Accomodations – STAY

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Grid does not get carried to inside pages. Area wise colours have been designed for 7 distinct regions. Highlights the activities in the areas. Entices with activities and visualshomepage. Graphic Illustrations + Typography + Colour + Visuals/images. Graphic approach to branding Target market- North America, Canada, Mexico. Cleverly crafted Advertisement campaign. Patterns are derived and a combination of colors. Their circular curves are enhanced.

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CONTENT- Shallow but manages to convey through videos. Video- Captures everything ‘Belize’. People, food, history, activities, animals.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

• CASE STUDY 7: INNSBRUCK TYPEFACE Bold Highly legible A no nonsense approach Sans- Seriff Type hierarchy adhered to every page. COLOUR Red and white- Colours of Austian flag. White- peace and honesty Red- Hardiness, Bravery, Stength, valour. Red- brings out the confidence INTERACTIONS Crisp Maximum of 2 click or 3. Quick

Very well linked internally Very Interactive map IMAGE Layout-Cleverly uses the alpine characteristics of the region. Spectacular Winter sports Urban meets outdoors meets medieval Historical, imperial, culture, Picturesque. ALPS- Alpine adventure INNSBRUCK- has an edge over the rest, Confident Sophisticated and rugged. The colour red brings that out. Sophistication with an edge. Experience

Your Stay Wining and Dining Travel and Transport TONE OF VOICE Straightforward Precise and to the point Promising

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Innsbruck card- 24, 48, 72 hours not for extended stay. Maximum of 2 nights. Visiting Nearby Tourists- for those looking for adventure Skiers, Hikers- targeting them worldwide also has cultural significance and family oriented target market.

Less number of images but makes up for it through interactive experiences like videos, panoramic view and interactive maps, interactive brochures, webcams and 360degrees panoramic views. Very Uniform Visually consistent. Layout strictly adhered to yet it is not monotonous, brightly highlighted links go on to engage further.

Very Interactive map. Mash up maps.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

• CASE STUDY 8:

MASSACHUSETTS

TYPEFACE Type hierarchy could have been simpler. Inconsistent Body Text- too light and sizes too small. E’s counterform gets eaten up. Font Hinting- anti aliasing – Technical problem COLOUR Turquoise or orange (for autumn) red, white and black give very clean modern feel.

MASSACHUSETTS AUTUMN

INTERACTIONS Slow No breadcrumbs Not so well linked A bit inconsistent. IMAGE Modern Outdoorsy Something for children Patriotic Fun Family friendly Adventure loving. Fostering a sense of community Sense of well being Welcoming less uptight KID FRIENDLY

TONE OF VOICE Its all here slogan- Scroll down to find what all is here- Call for action to explore. Warm

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MASSACHUSETTS ORIGINAL WEBSITE EXPLORE, STAY, EAT, IMAGINE, NAVIGATE, DISCOVER. Targeted at National Tourists Content was a bit repetitive but nevertheless there was variety. Content is strategically well placed atleast on the homepage. On the homepage its a card based layout. The forward buttons changes the content on the homepage so that there is a variety of options to explore from. 3

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Bold and very thin should have been carefully used. Ratios of content to image is 1:1. No breadcrubs. Very difficult to say where one is on the website.

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Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

• CASE STUDY 9: FINLAND TYPEFACE Distinct Finnish culture Didones typeface stands out Serif typeface- evokes a sense of style. Understated quietly elegant reflects an innate sense of style. COLOURS Colours of the sun, accents used without being loud and empowering. INTERACTIONS Videography- most of the information is present in one video itself Use of black makes it classy.

LAYOUT Dialog box opens up. Crisp- uses a lot of interactive graphic elements. IMAGE Picturesque- Picture frame Clean Unspoilt- landscape. Understated Local cultural activities used to advertise to people. Fresh People move into summer homes- uses the same to entice travellers. Absorbing the local lifestyle and fresh air. Slowing Down, peace of mind and relaxed. Finland stands out in its own peculiar idyllic way. Promotes Finland as remote, a place where you need to

stay longer to soak in the beauty. Cut off from the rest of the world. Selling the sunny summer days. Land of the midnight sun. Sparsely populated. Ability to take the natural world and seamlessly weave it into everyday lifeis what Finnish Design is all about.

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WHAT TO DO? Do and Shop WHAT’S GOING ON? See WHERE TO SLEEP? Stay FOOD AND DRINK? Eat Not a fixed navigation bar.

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Practical information not of too much importance there is much more invested in the content. Apart from destination they have themes, seasons etc.

Not a fixed navigation bar.

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• CASE STUDY 10: FALL TENNESSEE

TYPEFACE Tone and typography is beautiful with hint of handmade aesthetics. The typography is very unique for a tourism website. COLOUR Fall Stands for autumn season and hence uses seasonal autumn colours. Subdued and warm INTERACTIONS Well designed from a usability point of view. Crisp- Gets you to take action

immediately. Well linked to other sites. IMAGE Raw, creativity. Passion. Full of zest. Lively. Handcrafted. Southern hospitality. Diverse entertainment options LAYOUT The design of each curtain is also consistent. TONE OF VOICE Clever, crisp. Uses puns like ‘Fall for tennesse’.

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A large image and a small paragraph of text and a call to action. Very Consistent.

Roll away one curtain to find more content underneath. Uses parallax scroll but takes it a notch higher. Curtain interaction that represents fall. Grabs attention creatively.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Tennessee, is famous for Fall leaf watching and live music scene. Much like the tennessee the website does not have a rigid layout structure.

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CASE STUDY 11: IRELAND TYPEFACE Good use of type hierarchy. COLOUR Background can change according to different seasons, festivals, events. St Patrick’s blue Green and blue predominant colours White text against light blue not legible. INTERACTIONS Uses a lot of icons for providing information. Have to keep going back and forth. Repetition of links- menu items. Not so crisp interaction. Both these options of scrolling down and flipping through background imagesBreaks in navigation. Transition not so smooth.

IMAGE Rugged Rustic Layout/ grid brings out the ruggedness. LAYOUT Card based layout – how one piece of information links to another.

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Too many places to search for information.Repetition of links- menu items.

Have to keep going back and forth. Layout becomes too rigid- not enough interactive elements to keep interest on the inside elements.

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Map feature

Places to go Thing to do Events Accomodation For both foreign and local tourists. Snippets of information.

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Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

• CASE STUDY 12: DELFT TYPEFACE Clean, modern typeface. Type hierarchy is followed or adhered to. Typeface holding the site together. Creates familiarity both display and text. Extention of brand identity into website. COLOURS House of orange-colour of the Dutch Royal Family and blue ceramic pottery these colours used extensively. INTERACTIONS Very few Interactive elements. Too many clicks to retrieve content. TONE OF VOICE Use the word ‘Delft’ again and again. Friendly Pride First person - you Very uniform system of Typeface and visuals.

Sense of assurance Emphasis on D for Delft Language which is reflected in the printed media too. LAYOUT Content is left aligned. IMAGE Beauty and refinement Place for lovers of art. Appreciate art and architecture. Renaissance Charming and relaxing. History, culture, art and creativity. Rich cultural activities. TARGET AUDIENCEPeople visiting Netherlands and local people – nearby countries. Website and campaigns aimed at both the local and international tourists.

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Not held together by a navigation bar. The navigation bar does not take one into different menu items but rather takes into the various site sections.

Content gets buried too deep. SEO- longtail.

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Homepage Residents, Tourists, Business. Navigation Bar. Contemporary Graphic Design from Europe.

Advertising not just as a tourist place but a highly livable place.

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CASE STUDY 13: LONELY PLANET

LAYOUT

TYPEFACE Clean Sans Seriff Throughput Not overpowering

IMAGE Expansive Aimed at backpackers and other low cost travellers. Highly respected international Reachable Ease of accessing. Clean organized Variety Far Reaching All Encompassing.

COLOURS Blue, black and white. Blue- pristine, pure, truth and earth. INTERACTIONS

Top tier navigation expanded below as site map. Minimum clicks. Lightbox. Bread crumbs and well manages site.

Card based.

TONE OF VOICE Varies from straightforward to spiritual and colourful.

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Lonely Planet is a travel information depository than travel services.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

The thorn tree uses travellers inputs to share their experiences.

Content is build to match everyone’s needs eg LGBT community. Presents broad categories- to be explored. Family/ elderly travellers, culture vulture, experimental travel, travel on a shoe string, wildlife and nature. Generalized information of the romantic nature but insightful.

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CASE STUDY 14 : BING TRAVEL APP TYPEFACE Very clean Very good Typographical hierarchy Three levels of type hierarchy Point sizes- 18/16, 22, 36. Type hierarchy is what stands out COLOURS Typography- more dominant than colour Clean grey background. INTERACTIONS Horizontal scrolls, 360 degrees Panoramas Two levels of clicks only Very quick since app based.

Click and back are the only two actions Smooth transitions. Engaging Merely taps Streamlined interface is perfectly optimized. LAYOUT Very clean See only one thing at a time. IMAGE Minimalistic app Reliable Well sorted Exciting Inspiring Sleek visual appeal Uber interactive travel guide nearly every piece of vital information at your fingertips. Fast, sleek, responsive.

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Type + image + icons only stands out

Linked with FROMMERS’s ,TRIP ADVISOR , LONELY PLANET.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Images- main focus Clear- categories Big Bold Photos

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ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS CASE STUDIES and observations. Unique Brand Positioning is essential Four Quadrants (Do, Eat, Stay, Shop) are important. Brand positioning extended to everything TYPEFACE, COLOUR, INTERACTIONS, TONE OF VOICE, GRID. What kind of mood do you wish to promote. Mood and holidays. Emotional connect. Authenticity, honesty important. Essence of the place, destination reflected onto the website.

Will you have themes?

where one is on the website.

Depth of content?

Colour typeface – visual language – tone of voice, imagery should resonate on the same level.

What kind of activities are you promoting? Who will it appeal to the most. Videography or 360 degrees panoramic views. Graphic elements? What kind of interactions? Typeface and colour should work together. Use images carefully Navigation – should be able to tell

Promote one emotion throughout. If the layout is restrictive how do you fit content into it. Transitions should be smooth. Content follows layout? Too much of content a structured layout can help.Bigger the country the more structured the layout. Take care of technical problems in display and navigation.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

To many filters can be confusing. Integrate and encourage social media subscriptions.

Deliver information in minimum clicks. Vital information should be at your finger tips and yet see only one thing at a time.

Link other travel sites (OTA’s) Scrolling down not always effective- can be too tiring.

Typeface, colour and interaction can work together.

Avoid content from being too deeply buried – LIGHTBOX can solve this problem.

A fixed navigation bar.

Neighbourhood advice.

Use only one kind of icons

Be expansive, all encompassing, be insightful.

Highlight updated information

Use broad categories to explore – neatly segmented site sections.

Organic search

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CONCEPTUALIZATION •

REVISITING BRIEF and suggested strategies. Create a brand for U.P. as a unique destination. Build brand experience. Provide tailor made communication to identified key segments. More focus on foreign tourists with interest in Buddhism. Provide easy, accurate and detailed information relating to various sites and facilities. Facilitate and help the tourists in need and encourage tourists to visit other sites (including lesser visited ones like Kaushambi) as a part of their journey. Visuals should tell the story and inspire to visit along with providing information. Create new segments for tourists with special interests eg for tourists with latent interest in pilgrimage.

Marketing of defined hubs. Use contrasting attractions to enhance the core attractions of the hubs. Use special events to generate awareness of U.P. based attractions. Use concepts like twin cities neighbourhood destinations. The key target audience Majority of tourists are from urban India between the ages of 31yrs and 50 yrs. Most tourists visit for religious, cultural and historical reasons for leisure or for business. Most international tourists are European countries and South East Asia.

The following chart shows the different content strategies explored.

HUB centres centres outskirts

TWIN CITIES

AREA WISE

THEMES RELIGION BUNDELKHAND HERITAGE WILDLIFE

Ayodhya Benaras

outskirts

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Faizabad Chunar

outskirts

centres outskirts

(Vicinity)

PLACE 1. 2. 3.

RECOMMENDED TRIPS Lucknow

Ayodhya

Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary

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WISHLIST 1. 2. 3. 4.

(Circuits)

1 2 3 scroll 4 down

kms

COLOURS

MAP

4.5 hrs kms

Maps DESTINATION

Destination Flip automated (slide show)

kms One circuit at a time. Card Based

WISHLIST

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DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES CRAFTS CUISINES

•

PAPER PROTOTYPES and wireframing. Paper prototyping is a technique that allows you to create and test user interfaces quickly and cheaply. It’s easier to change a prototype than the final design.

EXPERIENCES

Option 1: Displays all the destinations and selecting other options on the top will display the various activities, crafts, cuisines and experience depending on what has been selected.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Option 2: Displays all the different circuits.

Option 3 & 4 : Allows you to book hotels for the destinations on the homepage itself.

Scrolling down one would find the various activities, cuisines, crafts, experiences.

Option 4 : Combines option 2 and 3 allows browsing through different options ( destinations, activities, cuisines, crafts, experiences) and allows you to book hotels.

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Option 5 : Lists all the destionations within the different circuits and the other options (activities, cuisines, crafts, experiences) are displayed as menu items.

Option 6: Incorporates a very interactive way of diplaying all the circuits.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Option 7: Displays the circuits alongside the options. This option was taken forward along with bits of other options.

The main feedback given was to not present all information in one page, integrate text with images. Let links/ information lead to other pages. Mobile first approach would help prioritize information.

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10 px unit

w dt

1280 px page width 7 p

ta e

978 px content area 10 px unit

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GRID SETUP Paper prototyping is a technique that allows you to create and test user interfaces quickly and cheaply. It’s easier to change a prototype than the final design.

12 COLUMN GRID

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design 1280 px page width

2 COLUMN SPLIT 180 px width

972 px content area

740 px width 10 px unit

SIDE BAR

MAIN CONTENT

About us

UTTAR PRADESH

Home

Accomodation

Tender

Uttar Pradesh

Select Language

Travel Help

WEBSITE LAYOUT

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TYPOGRAPHY

Pt Sans Regular 11pt

Typography can establish the tone of voice expressed by a campaign and although its use may be quite subtle or understated, it can also be used as major visual feature in the headline. Whilst the visual aspects of typography can be exploited to help communicate the brand message, so too can the verbal aspectsof the language itself. Clever use of double meaning and wordplay can enable reframing and add to the memorability or creative impact of an advert.

Pt Sans Regular 12pt

Pt Sans Regular 13pt

Pt Sans Regular 14pt Pt Sans Bold 14pt PT SANS 14PTS BOLD ROBOTO SLAB 13PT

Roboto Slab Bold 14pt Roboto Slab Regular 14pt All the fonts used in the website.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

Pt Sans Regular ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()_+

Pt Sans Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()_+

Pt Sans Caption Regular ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()_+

Roboto Slab Regular ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()_+

Typefaces

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COLOUR The chosen colour palette was inspired by Uttar Pradesh and its many spectacular sights. The primary palette colours are shown alongside which are inspired by the colours of the monuments and the secondory colour palette was developed for use in a website.

SECONDARY COLOUR PALETTE USED IN THE WEBSITE

R 219 G 209 B 192

R 195 G 180 B 161

R 167 G 140 B 109

R 132 G 109 B 81

R 242 G 146 B 100

R 241 G 137 B 84

R 214 G 115 B 70

PRIMARY COLOUR PALETTE

PANTONE 7504C R 164 G 140 B 109

C M Y K

35 40 60 6

PANTONE 7577C R 245 G 138 B 84

C M Y K

0 56 72 0

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BRANDING This identity celebrates the magnificence of the Taj along with the beauty of Benarasi sari. The simplicity makes it more contemporary. The iconic image of the Taj will help leverage the tourism traffic especially international tourists.

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GRAPHICAL SITEMAPS/ FLOWCHARTS help designers step back, visualize a user’s experience with the site,

and adjust the navigation flow as appropriate. Based on a sketchedout concept for navigation, you (or a designer you work with) can design pages that implement that navigation structure, like the artwork in the following figure.

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

FINAL CONCEPT

SOFTWARE : Fireworks

DIMENSIONS : 1280 px by 2300px

RESOLUTION : 72 px

GRID : 12 column

HORIZONTAL GRID : 10px

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13 inch Macbook Pro (non retina)

HOMEPAGE

SUBMENU PAGE

Subarna Sengupta | GDPD Graphic Design | National Institute of Design

HOMEPAGE

SUBMENU PAGE

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12 COLUMN GRID 20px gutter

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12 COLUMN GRID 20px gutter

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1024px by 2240px iPad 1st and 2nd generation

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320px by 1310px iphone 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation

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INTERACTIONS

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INTERACTIONS

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PRIMARY NAVIGATION MENU

SECONDARY NAVIGATION

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IMAGE OPTIMIZATION FOR WEB

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RESPONSIVE LAYOUT

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CONCLUSION The economic returns of tourism, however real and significant they may be, do not and cannot consititute the only criterion for the decision by States to encourage this activity.

The right to holidays, the opportunity for the citizen to get to know his own environment, a deeper awareness of his national identity and of the solidarity that links him too his compatriots and the sense of belonging to a culture and to a people, are all major reasons for stimulating the individuals’s participation in domestic and international tourism, through access to holidays and travel.

Tourism development at both the national and international level can make a posititve contribution to the life of the nation provided the supply is well planned and of a high standard and protects and respects the cultural heritage, the values of tourism and the natural, social and human environment. In retrospect this project proved very crucial in my academic growth in a number of ways. The project strengthened my research, analysis and my decision making process. Also this was my first time working for the screen and hence the amount of learning was phenomenal.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY ONLINE SOURCES 5 Basic Principles (& 25 Best Practices) for DMO Websites � www.abouttourism.com Most U.S. Tourism Websites Are Woefully Underused – www.skift.com The Top 30 Travel Industry News and Information Sites – www.skift.com 5 Basic Principles (& 25 Best Practices) for DMO Websites www.abouttourism.com ‘Authenticity’ and the travel industry � By Arnie Weissmann Ask the Expert Leveraging Your DMO Website for Improved Industry Communications � MICROS Systems, Inc.

New Data on DMO Website Growth�Travel 2.0 Consulting Group Planning And Implementing Website Navigation _ Smashing Magazine Showcase of City Tourism Website Designs - www.noupe.com

Final report on 20 Years perspectvie plans for Uttar Pradesh � A. F. Ferguson & co. Web Design Trends for 2014 awwwards. BOOKS

Travelers Visit 38 Sites Before Booking a Vacation, Study Says – Skift.com

Clement Mok, Multiple Media

Weekly Top 10 Stats From Our New SkiftStats Data Feed – skift.com

Ratandeep Singh, Dynamics of Historical, Cultural and Heritage Tourism

What Do Travellers Do After Visiting a DMO Website � Digital Tourism Think Tank PDFs Guidelines for Indian Government websites (GIGW)

Tourist Statistical Book (2004)