CASE STUDY
Igniting Curiosity: Building an Engaging Tourism Gateway
Tartu, Estonia’s second-largest city and the European Capital of Culture 2024, sought to enhance its online presence with a modern tourism portal. The goal was to create an engaging, informative, and user-friendly platform that would attract visitors and showcase the region’s cultural and natural offerings.
In 2017, I undertook this project as a UX designer at Trinidad Wiseman (TWN), Estonia’s oldest and largest UX consultancy. Collaborating with the Tartu County Tourism Foundation, we designed a portal that has been in use ever since, with minor updates. The result can be seen at [visittartu.com].
About
Industry: Tourism
Client: Tartu County Tourism Foundation
Project Scope: Design and development of an engaging tourism portal for the Tartu region.
Target Users: Tourists (domestic and international), local residents, event organizers
The Challenge
The project aimed to address several key challenges:
Outdated User Experience: The existing portal lacked modern design principles and failed to engage users effectively.
Complex Navigation: Visitors struggled to find relevant information due to unclear navigation structures.
Diverse User Needs: The portal had to cater to a wide range of users—local tourists, international visitors, and event organizers—while balancing technological constraints and business goals.
My role
As the UX designer for this project, I worked closely with a graphic designer, project manager, developers, and representatives from the tourism foundation. My responsibilities included:
Conducting user research through interviews and questionnaires to understand traveler needs.
Developing detailed personas and facilitating workshops to define the TO-BE user journey.
Creating wireframes and prototypes that evolved into high-fidelity designs.
Testing prototypes with users to validate usability and effectiveness.
Presenting findings and recommendations to stakeholders for iterative improvements.
Project outline
Brief, planning & recruiting
Interviews & questionnaires
Personas
Journey mapping
Prototyping
Testing
Presentation of the results
Impact
The tourism portal project had a lasting impact on both user experience and organizational processes:
Enhanced User Understanding: Through detailed personas and journey mapping, the team gained deep insights into traveler needs, enabling a user-centered design approach.
Improved Navigation & Accessibility: Validated wireframes and prototypes streamlined navigation, making it easier for visitors to access relevant information.
Sustainable Design: The portal has remained effective since its launch in 2017, requiring only minor updates due to its robust design foundation.
Collaborative Workflows: By fostering collaboration between designers, developers, and stakeholders, we established workflows that enabled smooth transitions from design to development.
Deliverables
Coded & anonymised transcripts of interviews
Personas and user journey maps
Wireframes and information architecture
Validated and tested prototype
Testing results
Methods
Understanding Users: Interviews & Surveys
To uncover user needs, I conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with visitors at the Tourism Information Centre. Using topic cards during interviews helped guide conversations and gather input for the platform’s information architecture.
Additionally, we ran an online survey featuring card-sorting activities via Optimal Workshop. This provided insights into how users categorized information, shaping the navigation structure.
💡 Key Insight: Visitors preferred clear navigation paths focused on events, attractions, and practical travel tips—highlighting areas where the existing portal fell short.
Personas: Bringing Users to Life
Based on interview data, I developed eight personas representing different traveler types (e.g., cultural tourists, families). Each persona included scenarios that captured their needs and expectations.
💡 Key Insight: Personas became critical tools for aligning design decisions with real-world user behaviors.
Journey Mapping: Visualizing Experiences
To consolidate insights from interviews and surveys into actionable plans, I facilitated TO-BE journey mapping workshops with the team. These sessions balanced end-user input with technological constraints and business goals.
💡 Key Insight: Mapping ideal journeys revealed opportunities for simplifying navigation while ensuring content relevance for diverse user groups.
Prototyping: Iterative Design
Using insights from card sorting, journey mapping, and personas:
I created initial wireframes that were reviewed regularly with stakeholders.
Navigation tests validated the structure before moving into high-fidelity prototyping.
A graphic designer developed a style guide that informed Axure prototypes.
💡 Key Insight: Early validation through navigation tests reduced usability issues in later stages of development.
Testing: Refining Usability
The high-fidelity prototype underwent usability testing with 10 participants. Sessions were analyzed using a usability problem severity decision tree to prioritize fixes.
💡 Key Insight: Visualizing test results in slide presentations helped stakeholders quickly grasp issues and approve necessary changes.
Conclusion
By grounding design decisions in thorough user research and iterative testing, we delivered a tourism portal that effectively meets visitor needs while showcasing Tartu’s unique offerings. The structured approach ensured every feature aligned with real-world use cases, resulting in a sustainable design that continues to serve Tartu’s tourism goals years after its launch.
