Visit Detroit Website

A user-focused merge of print and web

When the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau said they needed to redesign their website, they had several goals they were looking to accomplish and needed a team that could help them bring it all together.

 

Branding Website Design Web Strategy Content Strategy UI + UX Research Brand Strategy Brand Architecture Story Development Style Guidelines Positioning Tone of Voice Copywriting Editorial Services Content Online Publications Video Production Social Video Content Art Direction Original Photography

Challenge: Connect the dots


The DMCVB needed a mobile-friendly experience, an amazing event search, clearer navigation, improved mapping capabilities, to combine content from their print magazine, meeting site and blog, a CRM to deliver user information to their members and meeting planners, and they wanted the change to be transparent to visitors and members. In short, it was no small feat they were looking for.

Strategy: Focus + planning = integrated systems and better user experience


Together with our partners, we leveraged data, analytics and workflows to create personas and user journeys. We led several workshops and review sessions with the DMCVB to ensure that our findings were an accurate reflection of their targets.

As we moved from our define phase into design, we reviewed and tweaked several rounds of wireframes with the DMCVB. We developed a responsive website and plan for CRM integration and leveraged our Hub CMS; a powerful tool that allows for the rapid creation and deployment of content across several distribution platforms.

Result: Set for success


Our leadership and strategic thinking puts the user first and allows the DMCVB to easily update events, member information and content within the site. The Hub CMS also allows the DMCVB to share much of the content as a feed to Pure Michigan, DDAs, chambers and other outlets.

The DMCVB experienced an uptick in page views from 48,700 the month prior to launch to more than 54,000 during the launch and more than 55,000 the month after launch. Plus, mobile and tablet traffic on the site through midyear 2017 was already at more than 54%.

Awards

25 best tourism websites in the world in 2017 by Skift, the intelligence platform to the travel industry

2012 Bronze Award from HSMAI in CVB/Destinations/Offices of Tourism Digital Marketing Category

(2) 2012 honorable mentions from Editor & Publisher’s Eppy Awards — Best Travel Website Category and Best Redesign and Relaunch Category

Finalist for 2012 OMMA Award for Online Advertising Creativity, Website Excellence, Travel and Tourism Category



Our partners

Applied Storytelling
Velvet Hammer
InsideOut

Let's work together

Let Octane Design help make your system integration and content distribution dreams a reality just like we did for the DMCVB. Contact us today.