The objective of this project was to create a modular, component based design in Figma for a tourism company. This was to be in a white-label format so that it could be repurposed for other tourism websites further down the line, but still be a unique design each time the components were used. A modular approach is beneficial because it is cost-effective and saves a lot of time in a project. Using this generic styling initially, I could then use the themer plugin to apply brand styles quickly to all components and page UI designs, starting with the Visit Kent brand, to create a new design for their website.

I started the project by doing an audit of the existing website to discover all of the components and blocks that were required and also consider any further components that may be needed in order to make it more user friendly and be designed in a better way. Before starting to build out the page designs, I created all of the new components separately, in a basic and generic style.

The whitelabel version used neutral colours to allow for future flexibility. It also included different versions of many of the components, for example with a different layout, in order to make it as flexible as possible for the future use of creating other tourism websites. When creating the Visit Kent branded UI, I applied brand colours and fonts to the UI, making it unique to this brand. Being able to make them unique to each tourism brand, makes it an efficient yet original design system.

From there I considered the sitemap and content structure, then built out each of the pages required for the Visit Kent website using all of the components, creating any new ones needed as I went along. I considered the order of content and what was needed throughout the site to make it as intuitive an experience for the user as possible.

Usually, when a user visits a site like this, they already have in mind what they are looking for - whether that be accommodation or things to do on a day out. Therefore the homepage includes various ways the user can find what they are looking for. The homepage covers each of the main sections of the website with featured blogs, top picks, things to see, things to do, places to stay and eat, events and destinations. All of these can also be found in the nav or meganav. Another feature of the website is having related content and internal linking so that the user can find more relevant and suggested information of other things to do in the area, especially if they come to the website via one of the article pages rather than the homepage.

The main challenge was ensuring I had covered all possibilities of components to be used in this UI and future UIs, which was where the audit and research came into play.

The client was very happy with the final result of the UI design as they had a completely updated website design that showed their content in a way that was much easier to understand and navigate than before. They could efficiently use the components of the design system to create future UIs for their other tourism brands, saving time and money for the client long term.