\n
A. PROJECT OVERVIEW<\/p>\n
________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n
Podere Scopicciolo is an innovative off-the-grid villa rental in south Tuscany. It combines<\/p>\n
traditional architecture with cutting edge eco-friendly technology and contemporary living.<\/p>\n
It was built and is currently managed by Marco and Cecilia Durantini. The property has<\/p>\n
been open for three years and runs a summer season of 30 weekly rentals that are<\/p>\n
currently managed predominantly through vacation agencies.<\/p>\n
The project is a redesigning of the website and company identity that will focus on creating<\/p>\n
an enhanced presention of the property allowing for direct customer sales and improve<\/p>\n
current client word-of-mouth communication.<\/p>\n
I. Objectives for site redesign:<\/p>\n
1) Display high-resolution photo and video assets in a browser-responsive platform<\/p>\n
(i.e., photo and video assets would be scalable depending on mobile, desktop or tablet<\/p>\n
devices.)<\/p>\n
2) Stimulate prior clientele to revisit and engage their existing social circles to rent the<\/p>\n
property as well.<\/p>\n
3) Minimize agency competition (e.g., cut profit loss) by providing a state-of-the-art website<\/p>\n
that communicates a similiar level of service, trust and experience.<\/p>\n
II. Current state of www.poderescopicciolo.com:<\/p>\n
1) Limited visbility of existing photo assets (i.e., photos are too small, gallery is not user<\/p>\n
friendly or compatible with mobile\/tablet, table based design is obsolete.)<\/p>\n
2) No integration with Vimeo pro account that has the new promotional video available.<\/p>\n
3) All digital assets are static and there is no integrated social sharing for images, video or<\/p>\n
text (e.g., Tumblr, Instagram, etc.)<\/p>\n
4) Current copy is not engaging or descriptive enough of the property. There is a<\/p>\n
significant story to be told regarding the creation and operation of the property which does<\/p>\n
not come across in current website sub-pages (i.e., eco-friendly philosophy.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
III. Preferred future state of www.poderescopicciolo.com<\/p>\n
1) Gallery images that scale according to browser resolution (i.e., for a current generation<\/p>\n
iMac with a display of 2560 x 1800 the site will employ a javascript to call up appropriately<\/p>\n
sized photos – see site examples.)<\/p>\n
2) Photo and video compression is determined according to user connection speed via<\/p>\n
javascript that optimises the site for the user’s connection speed.<\/p>\n
3) A flexible CSS formated design based around a MySQL Content Management System<\/p>\n
(i.e., WordPress, Indexhibit, etc…)<\/p>\n
4) Enhanced site copy that relays the five-star look and feel of Podere Scopicciolo<\/p>\n
5) Rebranding of site identity via proprietary typography that is in line with the look and feel<\/p>\n
of the current Villa (e.g., communicates exclusivity, design-awareness and a contemporary<\/p>\n
hotelier experience.)<\/p>\n
Existing web\/social media presence:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Facebook<\/p>\n
\u2022 LinkedIn<\/p>\n
\u2022 Trip Advisor<\/p>\n
\u2022 Flickr<\/p>\n
\u2022 YouTube (now defunct – to be replaced by Vimeo)<\/p>\n
B. MESSAGING<\/p>\n
________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n
This section is intended to provide tone and communication direction to govern the brand<\/p>\n
messaging, marketing and resource content on the redesigned website.<\/p>\n
Communication Objective:<\/p>\n
To expand the preeminence and brand awareness of Villa Scopicciolo as a truly authentic,<\/p>\n
unparalled Tuscan experience at a five-star property.<\/p>\n
Who are we talking to?<\/p>\n
Our primary audiences are:<\/p>\n
1) Families<\/p>\n
2) Groups of professional friends<\/p>\n
3) Wedding parties (TBD)<\/p>\n
4) Travel and leisure magazines\/online publications<\/p>\n
How do we want them to feel when arriving at www.poderescopicciolo.com?<\/p>\n
1) We want our audiences to feel that they will be able to access a unique part of Italy at<\/p>\n
Podere Scopicciolo, where they can enjoy themselves on a state-of-the-art, eco-friendly<\/p>\n
property while experiencing authentic slow-food cuisine, local wine and custom tours of the<\/p>\n
surrounding area.<\/p>\n
2) We want our audiences to feel that they will have the opportunity to experience a once-
\nof-a-lifetime getaway that no other commerical villa can offer as told through the website’s<\/p>\n
enhanced digital assets (i.e., photos & videos.)<\/p>\n
Tone\/Voice:<\/p>\n
Tone should be professional but not clinical. The copy should be inviting without being<\/p>\n
overtly promotional or disingenious.<\/p>\n
Voice should be written as if a friend is welcoming you into their home.<\/p>\n
Target audiences and main takeaway (what we want them to think) for each:<\/p>\n
Audience Main Takeaway<\/p>\n
Families “This is somewhere we can relax but also<\/p>\n
take our children.”<\/p>\n
Groups of professional friends “This is an ideal getaway spot where we<\/p>\n
can enjoy each other’s company in a private<\/p>\n
setting.”<\/p>\n
Wedding parties Please confirm<\/p>\n
Travel & lesiure media outlets “This is newsworthy. We need to do a<\/p>\n
spotlight on Podere Scopicciolo in our<\/p>\n
magazine\/website.”<\/p>\n
C. DESIGN<\/p>\n
________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n
Problems with current site design:<\/p>\n
1) Site is one-dimensional and should be multi-faceted to tell Podere Scopicciolo’s unique<\/p>\n
story (e.g. more video, interactive elements).<\/p>\n
2) Digital assets are static and not responsive to tablet\/mobile.<\/p>\n
3) Social media is not integrated into the site – huge opportunity cost to engage with our<\/p>\n
primary audiences, especially the external media.<\/p>\n
4) Guestbook functionality makes guest comments hard to read and is not integrated with<\/p>\n
social media sharing.<\/p>\n
5) “Our Rooms” tab should be redesigned so that each room has a redirect link to look at<\/p>\n
more high definition photos and read a custom description of the room.<\/p>\n
6) Use of generic font family (i.e., “Lucida Grande”,”Lucida Sans Unicode”) diminishes<\/p>\n
from the exclusivity of the property and overall site design.<\/p>\n
Site examples for design reference:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/noahkalina.com\/ – scalability of images and keyboard shortcuts (left – right directional<\/p>\n
arrows) for gallery<\/p>\n
http:\/\/bottaccio.co.uk\/ – for large images except for compression artifacts<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.gigapixel.com\/ for zoomable high definition photos<\/p>\n
http:\/\/dismagazine.com\/ tiled hero content that is customizable on main page<\/p>\n
D. TECHNICAL OVERVIEW<\/p>\n
________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n
Browser compatability:<\/p>\n
Stated requirement: Ensure multi-browser (i.e., Google Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer)<\/p>\n
viewing and provide architecture to ensure that the site is built for mobile and tablet<\/p>\n
browsing.<\/p>\n
Technical approach: The site will utilize responsive web design to adapt the layout to the<\/p>\n
viewing environemnt by using fluid, proportion-based grids and flexible images.<\/p>\n
Client operating system and browser version:<\/p>\n
Windows – IE8+ and latest browser versions for Safari, Google Chrome and Firefox<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Calling all web designers: A friend is looking for a web designer to do a site redesign for\u00a0villa in Tuscany. Current site:\u00a0http:\/\/www.poderescopicciolo.com\/ Their biggest complaint…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-job","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/opportunities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/opportunities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/opportunities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/opportunities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/opportunities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/opportunities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/opportunities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/opportunities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/opportunities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}