Nunavut
Intro
Nunavut Tourism is a not-for-profit membership association designed to encourage tourism in the territory of Nunavut. Their old website had the right information, but needed refining to speak equally to the minds and hearts of visitors. To address this, Farella Lucidia developed a new website where anyone looking to visit Nunavut would have the feeling of being there in addition to acquiring the necessary information to plan their trip.
Objective into Results
Our goal in the creation of the Nunavut Tourism website was to establish the feeling of being in Nunavut and to create a sense of experience that would touch the user’s intellect and imagination.
We knew we would be communicating with people attracted to the idea of exploring one of the more remote parts of the world. Specifically, we were speaking to affluent, adventure seeking travellers, educators, scientists, and hunter/fishers.
What we did not need was a basic level “introduction to Nunavut” aimed at the layman, as much as a detailed exploration of Nunavut. While including necessary basic information, we knew that our site had to go further, adding depth and detail.
The website indeed conveys the fact that Nunavut meets the desired expectations of a unique and authentic destination. It presents information in an intuitive way and simultaneously touches the heart and the mind of the user.
Conclusion
One of the greatest challenges in working on this project was presenting a large amount of information to the right audience in the right way. Nunavut is a unique region, and we had to understand it thoroughly before we proceeded. Detailed research led to the development of our strategy which then informed the creative direction and execution of the project.
Idea into Approach
From a design standpoint, the website is functional in terms of usability and imagination, capturing the cultural and geographic elements of Nunavut accurately. It was also important to create the right artistic framework to encase the abundant information that would make up the site while remembering the need to maintain a strong emotional impact.
To achieve this, we created primary navigation that organizes the website, based on three main points: Experience (what there is to do in Nunavut), Explore (where is the territory, and what are the main areas within it), and Plan (how to explore the territory, and a list of resources to help do that). Our secondary navigation included sections such as photo galleries, media and trade links and a news section.
Because we had excellent, impactful photography, we did not have to overdesign the pages, but merely present the images and content. To create the frame for these images, we used monotone colours for the background, allowing the images to create an emotional impact on our audience.
To support the Experience, Explore and Plan sections, these three areas were colour coded so that users can move around the website easily, while always understanding what section they are in. To make visitors feel as though they are beginning to explore Nunavut itself, we made sure that our visuals, information and interactive elements helped the user feel compelled to further consider visiting the territory and to use the ‘Plan’ section to take action.
