CHANGZHOU
TOURISM
#UI Design
#Logo design
#Responsive web
#Online tourism campaign
OVERVIEW
For my final project at RED Academy UI Design Program, I was tasked to build an engaging and impactful visual brand campaign that promotes tourism on the city and target audience that I selected.
The city I chose was Changzhou, my hometown in China. It is located in the southeastern part of China, in the Yangtze River Delta area to be precise, and is very close to Shanghai.
FACT SHEET
Timeline: 2.5 weeks
My Role: UI Designer
My UI Methods: User Research, Design Inception, Moodboard, Style Tile, Logo Design, High Fidelity Prototyping, Style Guide
Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Sketch, InVision, Principle, Colour Pencils
PROJECT ATTRIBUTES
– Colour Pencil Illustrations
– Logo Design
– Tourism Campaign Web Design
C/C RESEARCH
AND CHANGZHOU'S USP
To begin, I did a competitive and comparative (C/C) research on all tourism cities (like Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou) in the same area near Changzhou.
My city Changzhou only has a population of 4 million, so it is considered a relatively small city. Changzhou is a place where old traditions meet new vibes. Unique food is what Changzhou is proud of thanks to our people’s obsession for creating better food. What I also love about Changzhou is that it is a very affordable city, which is quite rare in this area. People generally have better quality of life here.
From the above competitive and comparative (C/C) research, we can see that Changzhou’ is:
1. A smaller city, less crowded and more private comparing with other major cities;
2. Less expensive to travel and live in, which means you will have a higher quality of life here;
3. Last but not least, a food heaven. You can enjoy so many unique and tasty food at very affordable prices.
USER
PERSONA
After interviewing a lot of overseas Chinese that I know of, I came up with my user persona. His name is Victor Guo.
He is around 18–35 years old, considered young. He speaks English very well and enjoys Chinese food. For travelling he always has a budget, he doesn’t like over crowded cities and wants to find culture ties with his origins. It seems like Changzhou is a perfect destination for Victor. He will definitely have a good time there.
CAMPAIGN
THEME
With our target audience figured out, I then came up with my tourism campaign theme — I want to do a food tour which is called “Discover The Familiar”.
Coming to Changzhou, even though you are visiting an unfamiliar place, the food and culture will make you feel so familiar and nostalgic. This is because you and the city are both connected to the same Chinese cultural origins.
While you are discovering Changzhou, its culture and its food, you are actually exploring yourself, your cultural background and who you really are.
1. The "Why"
Similar to the deeper meaning of my campaign slogan, my “why” is to help users discover themselves, to find out who they really are when they are connected to their cultural origins.
DESIGN
INCEPTION
2. Logos
I have alway wanted to design a logo for my city. This time, I wanted to play with the charm of Chinese characters. I started with sketching ideas on paper, trying to combine the landmarks of Changzhou into the shapes of characters as an attempt to inject more cultural references.
To begin, I set my focus on the first character 常 (Chang). I was experimenting on the shapes of bridges and water which are vital for our local transport. I then added 州 (Zhou) to the logo. This time I was inspired by the shapes of Chinese red doors. meaning we are opening our doors to welcome tourists from afar.
After 3 iterations, I then digitized the logo in Adobe illustrator.
3. Final UI Design
I made 2 design directions to my target audience. My target audience chose the second one as it has more characteristics.
So my final design direction was mostly based on direction 2. I wanted to allocate 70% to the spirit of discovery, 20% to the indulgence in food and 10% to nostalgia and culture.
The core of the homepage is a hand-drawn map of Changzhou. It was created by colour pencil on paper, and then added a sepia tone in Photoshop. users can click the “+” buttons on the map to discover different places for different meals, which is a gamified experience that encourages users to interact with my website.
I also drew a series of unique food of Changzhou. I showcased them to my target audience and they all felt hungry and very eager to know more about them and Changzhou. The hand-drawn style also conveys the feeling of nostalgia very well.
Apart from the food, I sketched some symbolic Changzhou landmarks as well. From the historic comb alley to the latest China Dino Land, they are the visual representatives of Changzhou, a place where traditional culture meets young glowing hearts.
So below is my final style tile based on above inception and UI elements:
To make my website more interactive, I also made 2 animated prototypes with Principle, please check the YouTube videos below:
Desktop Version:
Mobile Version:
SWAGS
AND ADS
To help fund our campaign, I designed some themed swags. Here is one idea for plates, which will definitely increase your appetite before any meal.
Here is a set of grocery bags with symbolic Changzhou food images. Carrying them, you will be in the spotlights in every grocery store you visit.
To make people aware of our campaign, I designed a series of ADs, like this one for the bus stop billboards in Richmond, BC, where most of my target audience reside.
I also made 2 sets of ads for Instagram which are very popular among my target audience. One comes with the “Discover The Familiar” slogan, the other is a set of 3 ADs introducing the most symbolic Changzhou food in both Chinese and English, with the aim to not only lure people, but also teach some very useful Chinese.
SUMMARY
My tourism campaign brought overseas Chinese to the city of Changzhou, where they can reconnect with their cultural origins via food.
I combined the spirit of discovery, the indulgence in food and nostalgia into my hand drawn colour pencil paintings as the main UI elements of my website design.
Via browsing my tourism campaign, I am also helping my target audience to discover themselves, to find out who they really are when they are connected to their cultural origins.
DESKTOP
PROTOTYPE
MOBILE
PROTOTYPE
CASE
STUDY
