Published by isobel.regans@dontpanicprojects.com
Published Date 17.07.2023 
For over 20 years, All human, Ireland’s largest independent digital agency, has been working with major household brands such as Fáilte Ireland, Lily O’Briens, AXA, Irish Rail, Bord Bia, Irish Life and An Post creating experiences that people love. Our unique focus on user behaviour and commitment to the customer experience underpins every project. Our team of dedicated researchers, designers, developers, and conversion rate optimisation (CRO) professionals means we provide a full end-to end-solution providing brands with the strategy and solutions required to compete and win online.
As our name suggests, our focus is people. We spend a lot of time getting to know the people using our products; we research their likes and dislikes, their behaviours online, and their expectations. When Fáilte Ireland approached us with a request to reimagine an existing site, we began a collaboration that resulted in visitdublin.com.
Making visiting Dublin easy for everyone
Fáilte Ireland had several objectives, but chief among them was a goal to make the new site accessible and an experience that was seamless. They wanted us to capture the city’s character and unique attributes and then convey them in a way that made it easy for everyone to plan and book their holiday in Dublin. After completing our research, we understood that people have different needs. That when it comes to spending time in Dublin, we needed to consider multiple requirements and curate content, including locations, information, and events that cater to people of all backgrounds and abilities. And then, importantly, present it all in a way that was easy to use regardless of abilities and engaging.
Implementing a Universal Design strategy
One of our first actions was to adopt a Universal Design approach with the following goals:
- Accessibility: Design for all users
- Usability: Ensure that all users can easily understand and use the product
- Flexibility: Design it to be adaptable to different user needs, preferences, and contexts
- Inclusivity: Design with the goal of including people of all backgrounds and abilities
- Simplicity: Keep simple and intuitive
- Consistency: Maintain consistency to reduce user confusion
- Scalability: Design to grow and adapt depending on the user’s needs.
What does this mean in practice? Let’s look at one example. Colour contrast plays an important role in accessibility, so reviewing the brand colour palette was integral to our design process. Our goal was to select colours that look visually appealing and promote accessibility. To achieve this, we carefully analysed the colour combinations used on the user interface, ensuring that they adhere to the WCAG AA standard and prioritise good contrast across the website.
We also focused on specific groups of people who may require special assistance when visiting Dublin. This included analysing the needs of individuals with different languages or accessibility requirements and identifying design solutions that could enhance their overall experience. As a result, we added a Stay and Plan section to VisitDublin, which features essential traveller information such as accessibility tips for navigating the city, locations of tourism offices, and emergency numbers. By providing this information online, we aimed to make the offline experience easier for visitors who require special assistance.
In addition to creating a site that is accessible to everyone, visitdublin.com offers a unique visitor-first experience.
Features include:
● An interactive map that highlights What’s nearby, enabling visitors to orient themselves around their location or accommodation and see what amenities are on offer.
● Walking trails with audio descriptions so that visitors can take self-guided tours around Dublin.
- Micro-interactions such as hover state on various clickable items and moving images on the tourism listing pages.
- Enhanced search functionality:
- ● collections, e.g., family-friendly, pet-friendly,
- ● dynamic search bar – search suggestions appear instantly on the screen as the user types in the search bar.
● Collections pages are split between inspirational articles/guides and tourism business listings to align with points on the purchase path.
● What to do recommendations of what to do in Dublin were collated and curated into categories for convenience.
We also update the site monthly with a new feature as part of its constant evolution. Plus, we also crafted a design system that allows it to grow without losing accessibility. Fáilte Ireland can use these modules to create new features as required. It has enabled them to implement changes and adaptations in response to user testing and feedback, reducing costs and increasing efficiency and business agility.
Earning industry recognition
The team on one of our collaborative sessions
Aiming for a goal is one thing; achieving it is quite another. This is why we were delighted to win a 2023 Spiders award for Best in Universal Design.
And it is why this nomination is so important to us.
“We wanted this site to offer a digital experience that everyone could love and use. And by putting time and effort into discovering what it is people want and need when they plan and book time in Dublin, we were able to design and develop visitdublin.com in such a way that it delivers on this goal. Winning this award would be a testament to the importance of placing the user, every user, at the core of design and development. ” Cheryl Young, Senior Product Manager, All human
