Introduction

Established in 2006, Al Ostora Travel Co., in engaging cutting edge technology,and investing in the right web development partner, are now able to make accessible, their online booking facility. The new website provides unparralled access to the world best deals, tour packages, car rental deals, and alot more.

The Challenge

• To build a full fledged, travel portal with integration to International reservation gateway systems
• To design a user-interface that is intuitive, user-friendly, and attractive to new and existing customers
• To provide significant value on the website through the provision of unique content, fresh deals, best value and convenience to new and existing customers of Al Ostora.
• To provide Al Ostora's administration with tools and systems to place them in full control over the operation and management of the website.

The Design Stage

Al Ostora's desire to have a website that incorporated international usability and customer experience standards , was clearly communicated to us as factors paramount in the successful development of the website.

For this reason, our internationally renowned web design process that includes user research, eye tracking technology, and focus groups, allowed us to zone in on Al Ostora's customers and their needs.

The usual process was to use personas (user profiles), scenarios and specified requirements to conduct one or more participatory design workshops.

» Insight Eye tracking Through a one of a kind partnership with a german company, Mawaqaa provides its clients with state of the art reasearch driven usability reports that are a result of heat mapping and eye tracking technology.

Once all user scenarios were documented, we began conceptualizing and providing Al Ostora with compositions based on our research. This included storyboarding, wireframing and interface connectivity drawings.

» Insight Smart design through analysis The story boarding process at Mawaqaa is simple. Identify the visitor's needs, create personna scenarios, and create elements to help them along the way.

The Technical Implementation

Once clearly defined template structures and content areas were in place, Mawaqaa's team of highly experienced developers and testers integrated the design elements into the content management system architecture which directly speaks to Al ostora's international reservation gateway system (For security concerns, we prefer not to disclose the name of the gateway).

Integration of all schedules, promotions, flight bookings and online payment, was done through a content implementation and approval schedule with Al Ostora, that lasted around 2 months. Once the gateway integration phase was complete, Mawaqaa integrated its business modules such as the newsletter system, FAQ knowledgebase, Central forms management system and e-marketing tools for analytics and search promotion.

Conclusion

We retained the original vision for the site, while improving its operation and appearance, and meeting most of Al Ostora's original goals. Further usability testing and contingency design mechanisms are constantly being put in place to validate the changes made.

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