Jewel of the Hills / City of La Mesa, CA DSGN 360: PROJECT 1 / City Tourism Website Leiya Tatad

Transcription

1 Jewel of the Hills / City of La Mesa, CA DSGN 360: PROJECT 1 / City Tourism Website Leiya Tatad

2 Audit QUICK FACTS The city of La Mesa, CA is located 9 miles east of Downtown San Diego in the County of San Diego. It is 12 mi east of the Pacific Ocean and typically has hot, dry summers and warm winters. La Mesa is known as the Jewel of the Hills. It s known for its tree-lined streets, walkable neighborhoods, easy access to retail and commercial areas, and a quaint downtown village make La Mesa a highly desirable community in which to live and work. ( Living in La Mesa offers residents an urban feel and most residents rent their homes. Many families and young professionals live in La Mesa and residents tend to be liberal. The public schools in La Mesa are above average. ( Population: 60,021 (2017 census) Civic Motto: Jewel of the Hills Founded: 1869 / incorporated in 1912 Official Flower: Bougainvillea Arts and Culture: Farmer s Market (every Friday), Oktoberfest, Back to the 50s Car Show, Christmas in the Village, Antique Street Fair, Grossmont Center Mall, Secret Stairs, Walk of Fame, Walkway of the Stars Leiya Tatad 1

3 CONTENT LIST (current) Home Button - City of La Mesa Insignia/Logo Social Media Icons/Links & Search Bar Navigation Bar: Resident Services, Doing Business, Your Government, Explore La Mesa, How do I Header Image: a soft focus image of succulents Icon Links (floating over main header) Agendas & Minutes, Classes, Stay Informed, Report a Concern, Parks 3 Column Layout Content (below header): Winter 2019 La Mesa Newsletter Active Development Projects Commercial Vacancies 5 Day Calendar (Active) with link to View All Footer Content: Leiya Tatad 2

4 La Mesa Weather App/Widget (Active), Home, Contact Us, Jobs, Site Map, Copyright Notices, Credit (Websites by Civicplus) COMPETITOR RESEARCH The city of La Mesa, California is primarily only known to local San Diegans and isn t typically a tourist destination. It s a quaint town in East County San Diego, with the picturesque La Mesa Village at the heart of it that holds local events such as Oktoberfest and the Farmer s Market. Within the past 5 years or so the Village has seen a boom of new hip eateries, cafes, and breweries. La Mesa s population had previously been dominated with those within the retirement age demographic and had a reputation for being a bit old fashioned but a wave of millenials moving to the area due to its rising popularity has drastically changed the local culture. Competitors to the city of La Mesa would be other cities within San Diego County that have a similar cost of living (in contrast to the cost of living/visiting coastal cities in the county like La Jolla, Ocean Beach, and Pacific Beach) and activities. These cities would include El Cajon and Lemon Grove which are also in East County, and potentially even the more urban towns of North & South Park. The official San Diego Tourism Authority website (sandiego.org) has a great run down of all of San Diego s neighborhoods which includes East County, but it does not highlight La Mesa. El Cajon s and Lemon Grove s city websites are comparable to La Mesa s - a lot of content for local residents but no draw for tourism. QUESTIONNAIRE WEBSITE QUESTIONNAIRE What top 2 future business goals do you want to achieve with your new website? 1. Highlight tourism and create appeal for the city with the website (so that it doesn t just function as a resource for residents) 2. Simplify the navigation - it should be easy for residents and tourists alike to find the information the need What do you think your visitors first want to see when they visit the website? Visitors should first want to see (beautiful) photos of the town itself that set it apart! A generic photograph of succulents on the front page is strange and doesn t make it feel like you are visiting a city s website. Leiya Tatad 3

5 What related industry/competitor websites or other websites do you like or envision for this website? Why? The tourism website for San Diego County is beautiful and modern. The main nav bar links are just EXPLORE, PLAN, and STAY. I really like the balance of minimalist design with photography that directs the user s eye down the page naturally while emphasizing all the key elements that would make anyone want to visit the area. This includes very clear items like a drop down search for Find a place to stay, a video, interactive map to Explore San Diego Neighborhoods, Things to do, Deals, Guides to the Good Stuff (including links to articles on music, The Water, Surf & Skate and Craft Beer. There s also previews of their Instagram feeds and Blog. This user friendly design and path through the home page seems to be consistent on other city tourism sites that I looked at as well (such as La Jolla, Yosemite, Seattle and Bellingham). Who are the different user groups that would be using this site? And for what reasons? Residents: find local government/city services, events (calendar), and things to do Visitors/Tourists: learn more about the city, find things to do, see and eat College Students: Specifically, San Diego State University (SDSU) students. The campus is only about minutes away, and La Mesa could draw students looking for housing and places to eat/shop. What three or four values do you want people to attribute to your company and your product? 1. Useful/Helpful: If a user is looking up the city s website, it should be a one-stop-shop for anything they might need or be looking for that is related to the city. 2. Clear/User-friendly: NOT a maze of endless links that lead to other links. Simple breakdown based on residential needs vs. tourism. 3. Attractive: the design and visual elements should highlight the town and entice visitors to bring their business there (both tourists and merchants looking to open up shop). List 5-8 personality traits for the city (e.g. sophisticated, energetic, smart, techy, etc.) SUBURBAN / FOODIE-DESTINATION / HIP / AFFORDABLE / LOVELY / FRIENDLY Leiya Tatad 4

6 What existing websites represent a similar look and feel for what you envision for this website? I prefer the websites that have a crisp & clean layout has a good balance between content and white space. Often city/state tourism sites can get really busy with photos/videos and links List any requirements for the new website. Resources for residents / Event Calendar / Explore landing page for dining/shops/entertainment/hiking/etc. / Social media feed to showcase updates like new businesses, events, landmarks, etc. SCOT ANALYSIS What are the current strengths? (List 3) 1. Clean 2. Lots of content 3. Consistent color palette What are the current challenges? (List 3) 1. Confusing navigation/hierarchy 2. No content to drive tourism 3. Drab color palette What are the current opportunities? (List 3) 1. Can include social media feeds (they already exist at least) 2. Great local events that can be highlighted front and center Leiya Tatad 5

7 3. Highlight New/Trending places to eat and drink What are the current threats? (List 3) 1. Not the most exciting town in San Diego that caters to the above mentioned demographic and has been doing so longer (currently still is North and South Park which is closer to the coast/downtown SD/tourist destinations) - the website doesn t highlight any exciting dining/shopping experiences that could set it apart currently. 2. Cost of living could and probably already is starting to increase in the city as more people relocate to La Mesa - there isn t any content (that s easily accessible) for current and potential residents to view realty opportunities in direct correlation to area benefits 3. The website is boring and doesn t even feel like it s for a city at first glance due to the succulent - not enough visual pull for users to stick around (if they aren t residents with a specific goal) TARGET AUDIENCE Currently the target audience seems to just be residents. This should be expanded to include potential visitors and potential new residents - especially young professionals/millennials, whose demographic has already started to populate the city more in recent years both as business owners and residents. This means that the redesign of the website should keep a younger audience in mind with aesthetics, clear hierarchy, and fresh content that highlights new and trending spots. USER GOALS The user could be someone who is a something young professional who is looking into the city as a possible place to move. They are looking for how accessible the area is to their job, what parks and leisure activities there are within walking distance - including places to dine and shop. They could be a local resident who came to the website looking to see if there are any events (i.e. Oktoberfest, Farmer s Market, etc) happening that month/week that they can go to with their friends. Leiya Tatad 6

8 Define PROJECT GOALS The client, the City of La Mesa, is needing an update to their current website to enhance tourism, usability, and overall web presence. The overarching goal is to attract new residents and tourists while improving functionality for current residents. The current design of the site packs in a lot of information, especially for locals for city government related needs but is lacking quite entirely in terms of highlighting any sort of draw to the town for businesses and tourists. The amount of links that a user has to sift through is very cluttered, along with a dense amount of text on each landing page. Several improvements to the site structure and look-and-feel have been identified and will be incorporated into the new website: I. The overall look-and-feel is dated - the color scheme is too dark, the images are not relevant and are too generic, and the stylization of the icons is too bland - nothing about the homepage reflects the general ambience of the city minus the city insignia in the upper lefthand corner. Any images used on the homepage will be of the town to highlight tourism, and a brighter, but still earth toned color palette will be used to modernize the overall branding. II. The main navigation packs in too much content. This can be cleaned up by reorganizing the content into more of a branch format with narrowed down key topics. The search bar should be more prominent as well. III. The 3 column topic headlines could be utilized as a smaller widget link/feed preview to the city government blog/twitter feed. This space could be utilized with trending places to eat/new hotspots / where to go to immediately give site visitors visuals on things to do in La Mesa instead of dry city government related things. In general, social media should be brought more to the forefront to establish relevancy and also serve as an easy way to stay updated instead through just finding the social links in the search bar. IV. The calendar widget is dated and could be utilized in a stronger way that both highlights city hall related events and also tourism related events as well. V. The lack of a defined footer leaves the homepage feeling unfinished. This could be remedied by having an anchored, solid background (or framed by some sort of graphic/illustration) that clearly separates it from the body content. Leiya Tatad 7

9 The key strengths on the website all center around community involvement and engagement- including the calendar widget, the updated announcements (as the 3 column articles) and the action button icons (agendas, classes, stay informed, report a concern. & parks). These should still be kept as a main focus for current residents, although it can be integrated more so with tourism draw-ins as well, especially with social media and imagery. While combing through the current city website and comparing it to other city and tourism sites, three main goals have been identified and prioritized as necessities for moving forward in this redesign (including incorporating the aforementioned improvements): Goal 1: Promote tourism on the homepage visually with images, social media feeds, and examples of things to do Adding more tourism related content as the forefront on the homepage of the site will solidify the overall web identity for the City of La Mesa without necessarily having to sacrifice the city government related functions. This will make the City of La Mesa more marketable to tourists and potential residents as well. Resident engagement can still be featured and should compliment the tourism aspects to emphasize La Mesa s vibrant community. Goal 2: Update the visual design to reflect the vibrant community of the city and growing population The City of La Mesa is expanding and evolving with the waves of young adults moving there and opening up their businesses and the website should be reflective of this as well. A clean, minimal, and bright design will open up the ability for content photos to stand out and highlight experiences while some graphic/illustrative elements (i.e. for a map, calendar, icons, etc) can help structure /break up the content as well but add a more crafted feel. Goal 3: Improve accessibility and simply user experience by restructuring the navigation and strengthening the mobile version of the layout The website s current layout is responsive enough to work decently on a mobile device but feels cluttered and automated. By cleaning up the infrastructure of the site, overall usability increases tenfold and the transition from desktop to mobile-friendly will appear seamless. Dividing up content under Resident Resources Things to Do (restaurants, festivities, parks, farmers market, etc), and Stay with Us (which could cover lodging and also residential prospects). Leiya Tatad 8