An independent chain of award winning, Boutique Hostels in London and Zagreb.
I was approached by Palmers Lodges towards the end of 2011 and asked to rebrand their two London hostels. The hostels offer upmarket, boutique accommodation with a degree of charm and character. In 2012 Palmers Lodges opened a new hostel in Zagreb, Croatia to which the new branding was applied.
As part of the rebrand a new website design was to be created which would offer users an interactive experience with the hostels as well as providing news, information and ticket sales for events.
Branding.
Design for print.
Palmers Lodges do most of their marketing online, but still require printed materials to support the online content. In addition to the design of printed marketing materials, business cards and menus have been designed for print.
Website design and development.
The original website for Palmers Lodges was designed and launched in the first half of 2012. After monitoring the website for twelves months, a detailed review of user interaction and analytics brought to light some areas that could be enhanced and built upon.
My original website design (2012).
My updated website design (2013).
A wider layout allows for better positioning of important elements. The booking engine – the most important call to action – was positioned at the top of the page and (on desktops) scrolls down with the user allowing quick access when the decision to book has been made. The brand colour scheme was extended to provide unique colours for groups and ticket sales. These additional colours increased contrast and defined areas on the site, making it easier for the user to find what they are looking for.
Still responsive for mobile users.
Due to the nature of the youth travel industry, the Palmers Lodges website receives over 25% of it’s visits from mobile devices. Mobile users need to be able to interact with the site just as easily as they would on a laptop. Currently the site serves the same content to mobiles, but reformats the layout to improve interaction. I hope to implement a more advanced mobile content strategy in the future.
I use several methods to test responsive website designs, but the most accurate is on real devices.
Decreased loading times, increased interaction.
The updated website is loading faster than the original and performing well with users. I work closely with Palmers Lodges to ensure the website meets, if not exceeds, user expectation.
Original website interaction (clicks).
Updated website interaction (clicks).
The next stage in planning is to improve the user journey through the booking process. Currently users are taken away from our server, leaving very little opportunity to help offer a better service through to completion of the booking. As you can see from the clicks above, the booking form sees a lot of interaction.
