Destination NSW: Powering the Visitor Economy

Our challenge was to create a best-in-class resource platform for all those working in the visitor economy. It also needed to comply with strict security mandates, and the Destination NSW corporate style guide - while still eliciting the wonder and excitement of travel. Our goals were to reduce the number of clicks to find specific information, thus minimising enquiries to Destination NSW. We also wanted to improve the discoverability of content, as the platform is host to hundreds of invaluable guides, tutorials, and information packs a user might never think to search.

With ethnographic research illuminating the value the 1-1 relationship with Destination NSW brings to their affiliates, our strategy was to become the digital version of a friendly Destination NSW staffer. We crafted a hyper intuitive and efficient information architecture, validated through user testing. The design system adhered to government guidelines while breathing a vibrant new energy into them, consistent with the dynamic tourism industry. Our engineering solution provided industry leading data security through Sanity and Vercel’s secure, cloud-based system, and delivered Destination NSW a scalable CMS they could maintain easily internally, without development support.

This new platform reduced the reliance on antiquated systems, created one source of truth, and drastically reduced hours of website management through the customisation of a workflow-based CMS. The needs-based UX empowered operators and distributors to find information themselves efficiently, reducing enquiries to Destination NSW and driving commercial savings. The B2B platform improves travel and tourism experiences for domestic and international tourists by giving small businesses, event organisers and regional operators a world-class platform to access the resources to help them create the most successful and most marketable versions of their business - sustaining livelihoods and driving overall revenue for NSW.

The new platform puts users at the heart, grouping content in an easily discoverable navigation. We kept the most searched for topics easily accessible, while also highlighting the most popular content from that page in quick links at the top of every parent page. Long content pages triggered a smart UI system that allows the user to see the full page’s content at a glance, jumping to the most relevant section. The hamburger nav progressively reveals more options to users as they select each menu item, so as to keep focus and not overwhelm with the large amount of resources available. An ever-present search bar prompts the user if they haven’t found what they’re looking for. We implemented Algolia to deliver search results fast. We leveraged keystroke search which renders instantly updated results as you type. A search query would scan not just page titles but content too, which drastically improved the accuracy of results returned. As a government platform, it’s restrained in terms of any animations and transitions, focussing the user on the task at hand and not trying to visually ‘dazzle’ with unnecessary flair. Understatement was key during the design process.