The company
Cruise Club UK is a well-established cruise booking agent with over thirty years’ experience, catering to both first-time and seasoned cruisers.
Their primary advertising method was sending promotional leaflets and banners to previous customers.
They recognised the need to strengthen their online presence to reach a wider audience, as the website was generating little to no revenue.
Paul Edge, the company director, contacted me to help update and improve the website. We arranged a meeting to discuss his goals and how best to achieve them.
My process
I began by carrying out user research, interviewing experienced cruisers who regularly search online for cruise deals. The aim was to understand what they liked and disliked about cruise websites, identify existing issues and design with real user needs in mind.
They told me they received Cruise Club brochures but found the website difficult to use, making them less likely to use it than competitor sites. Key priorities when searching were browsing by cruise company and viewing the latest offers.
I reviewed Cruise Club’s competitors to see how other cruise companies presented themselves online, focusing on the user journey. I also explored the CMS I was required to use, which came with limitations due to fixed pricing data and uneditable code. A key challenge was achieving the project goals within these constraints without compromising the design.
Using the research insights, I sketched initial ideas, aiming to present a large number of offers without overwhelming users. I also considered the target age group, demographic and browsing habits.
I then created wireframes for the homepage, destination pages, cruise information pages and the booking journey, before moving into Sketch to design the final pages and components.
The designs were shared with Paul via InVision for feedback. This allowed for ongoing discussion and refinement, ensuring all key requirements were met before development.
Once the designs were approved, I began building the site, with regular review meetings throughout the process to maintain client engagement.
Retrospective
This was the largest freelance project I had taken on at the time and proved to be a valuable learning experience. One of the main challenges was the tight deadline, which made clear and consistent communication essential. Paul was a great client—responsive, open to feedback and always available for calls or meetings when needed.
Although I would have liked to carry out additional research, time constraints limited this. Nevertheless, the project provided several key lessons that I have carried forward into future builds.
