Content Site Builder

The Content Site Builder (CSB) is a tool for Disney’s wholesale and travel agent partners to create customized mini-sites featuring Disney content along with their own company logo and contact information.  This particular project was part of a broader effort to overhaul all of Disney’s travel agent tools, include an eBrochure builder, embedded content generator, and College of Knowledge.

The two overarching goals of this project were to enable Disney to maintain control over brand messaging while making it easier for wholesalers and travel agents to market and sell Disney products to various consumers throughout the world.

Client: The Walt Disney Company

Timeline: Summer 2015 - Spring 2016

Role: UX/UI designer 

Activities: UX design, UI design, wireframing, user interviews, competitive analysis, presenting/pitching

Opportunities & challenges

The existing CSB was very old, difficult to use, and had persistent bug issues. In our initial interviews with travel agents, they complained about how hard it was to go through the builder flow to actually produce content, but loved the fact that they had constantly updated information ready to go for their clients. They loved that they could add their own branding into the header through a hero banner. 

This hero banner space, however, had no guidelines and often took over the entire page, a concern to internal Disney stakeholders who felt that this site builder often muddled Disney branding.

Because this project would be a net new rebuild, we really had the opportunity to hear out both travel agent and internal concerns and create an experience that satisfied everyone. 

Guiding principles

Simple & Consistent
Provide simple, consistent, navigation between digital tools to allow agents to quickly build compelling content.

Guidance for All Users
Provide guidance for novice users & quick access to tools for power users.

Clear Paths to Booking
Retain focus on commerce - provide clear paths to booking for agents & guests.

Personalized Content
Retain focus on the guest - allow content (where appropriate) to be customized and speak more directly to the guest.

Outcome

The Content Site Builder
Instead of having 3 separate builders for Mini Sites, eBrochures, and embedded content, we consolidated these flows into a single, modular builder. The user selects a template to work off of, and the downstream steps adjust accordingly. No need to bookmark multiple pages.

Mini Sites (builder output)
A highly configurable multi-page website, featuring 3 different site layout templates, available in 5 different color schemes, with customizable logo space, contact information, and parks content. This mini site is currently being used by travel agencies to represent their brand with the most up-to-date-content.

eBrochures (builder output)
A highlight customizable single-page digital brochure, tailored to specifically to the needs of a family by the travel agent. The travel agent selects what content they want to see, and the content is selected from a modular system.

Mini sites

The mini sites are comprised of a modular system designed to give each agent as much flexibility as possible in both the display of the content they want, as well as how much of the content to show.

With the ability to customize color, layout, and typeface, travel agents have 75 unique combinations to choose from to set their business apart.

Color themes

After an extensive survey of travel agent site designs and color preferences, we narrowed down the color customization to 5 colors that allow these Disney mini-sites to blend in seamlessly with existing travel agent sites.

3 distinct layouts

In addition to color themes, travel agent partners have 3 different template styles, to allow for even more unique combinations to match their own look and feel while still retaining the clean layout and experienced expected of Disney’s guests.

eBrochures

E-Brochures allow for more targeted marketing and trip planning, geared towards specific clients and with specific needs. This site was designed to be modular, allowing each content manager to pick the best format for their content. 

Content modules

I designed over 30 different content modules for Disney content producers to use for content production and management. This way, both the travel agent partners and their customers see a clean and consistent experience from builder to output.

What travel agents have said

“I love that you are already re-doing the website so that I don’t have to and [I can] just wait for it to be ready.”

“[The new design] looks simple and nice, very user friendly.”

"This will save me a ton of money!"