Plum Guide - Daniel J Neale, Creative Director and Designer

THE PROCESS

The Framework

Crafting a strategy to implement organisational and customer change with a clear vision

Navigating a brand change three years into their growth poses a number of challenges, as it inevitably has a knock-on effect for the entire business. To begin, we had to outline a framework for our approach, identifying the steps required to achieve Plum Guide’s goals and the best order in which to tackle them to deliver the change with high impact and little disruption to their day-to-day. This led us to identify the following elements:

BRAND
Implement and translate a new visual identity across channels and teams. Transition a new work mark and typeface into a digital context. Build a creative framework to elevate Plum Guide in its ambitions to become a super brand in the sector. Deliver a new VI that enables a step change into being recognised as a premium brand.

COMMERCE
Deliver a best in class user experience from awareness through to brand advocacy. Undertake extensive research on user patterns and behaviours to ensure implemented solutions are engaged with.

PRODUCT
Communicate with our audience the core business proposition of vetted properties that have to pass a rigorous inspection and critique. Establish and convey the Plum Guide quality line.

CONTENT
Create connected customer journeys through a robust content strategy leveraging audience insights to recommend relevant home-stays and travel editorial based on known preferences.

Kick-Off

UNDERSTANDING AND IDENTIFYING PLUM GUIDE’S PLACE WITHIN THE WORLD OF TRAVEL

We began by conducting a series of strategic workshops with key executives to help understand where the brand had been, where it was today and the ambitions for its future. Combined with market research, competitive analysis, global trend research, audience segment research and 1:1 stakeholder interviews, we were able to unlock insights that laid the groundwork for our brand strategy work.

• Strategic workshops (Vision, Brand, Culture, Content)
• 1:1 stakeholder interviews
• Competitive audit
• Platform audit
• Brand audit

Content Strategy

CONNECTING CONTENT AND DATA TO DELIVER A DISTINCTLY UNIQUE OFFERING

The biggest question we had to answer for Plum Guide was: “How do we let customers know that the properties they find on Plum Guide are the best places to stay in that area?” Our solution was rooted in using customer data insights to surface content that spoke to their styles, tastes and expectations for their vacation. This would enable Plum Guide to demonstrate that it has a deep understanding of customer needs and offers a curated, personalised alternative to its competitors. Designing a mechanism to gather customer data allowed search results and content to be surfaced based directly on the user's needs, from editorial content to personal property recommendations. Enriching data profiles of our customers allowed content to be surfaced at the right time and place to the right customer.

Visual Identity

A NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE DESIGNED TO EVOLVE

The rebrand of the Plum Guide needed to capture a new lens on what quality travel and home stays should really look like, while not taking itself too seriously. Playful yet premium, we wanted Plum Guide to demonstrate a confident and clear point of view on the world of travel with a visual identity that had room to adapt as the brand grows.

• Translating a new visual language across elements such as typography, colour, graphic devices, photography, interaction and more to help distinguish Plum Guide from the crowd.
• Vision / mood boards
• Colour and type systems
• Graphic elements
• Art direction
• Interaction patterns

Systemisation

DELIVERING SCALABILITY AND EASE OF ADOPTION THROUGH A DEDICATED DESIGN SYSTEM AND EXPERIENCE STRATEGY

To ensure the new visual identity could be activated with consistency across multiple product teams, channels and touchpoints, we created a design system to direct the adoption of assets and new styles.

• Requirements gathering
• Stakeholder interviews
• Design system and component creation
• Storybook
• Tokenisation
• Design guidelines

TESTIMONIAL

“So far we have found nothing Daniel cannot do. He is quietly exceptional. Developing brands from very little, creating interactions, experiences and visual designs which are outstanding, innovative and delivering excellence throughout. As a team mate, he is soothing and joyful, brave and able to validate the smallest of design decisions. Rarer than gold dust. Exceptional creative skills and a delivery attention to detail I have rarely seen. The best I have met in years.”
‍
Clare Munday - UX Lead, Plum Guide