The locals know that the Derwent Valley is Tasmania’s best kept secret. It is their secret. Their secret, perfect piece of the world. Perfectly, sublimely beautiful. Pristine. Vast, with warm pockets of civilisation.
Since its earliest history, the Derwent Valley has always been a favourite destination for Tasmanians, first for the indigenous peoples and later for the European settlers, and so on until the present day.
Today,The Derwent Valley is Tasmania’s most scenically beautiful valley, Tasmania’s premier wine and gourmet food bowl, Tasmania’s adventure hub, custodian of some of Tasmania’s earliest history, and home to many of Tasmania’s best accommodation, experiential and lifestyle opportunities.
The Brief
In 2017 a loose collective of Tourism Operators, who are passionate about their Valley, decided that the time was right to promote the Derwent Valley Tasmania brand. The initial small group initiative was to establish a Derwent Valley Tasmania Facebook page followed by their website. The initiative quickly grew into a true grass-roots movement to promote the Derwent Valley. The team decided that the time was right for another website refresh to simplify the design and promote their members in a more direct way.
The Approach
Simplifying the design meant increased white space on the home page and moving some content on to supplementary pages to reduce the page load time.
A mega-menu was implemented to make navigation simpler and provide direct links to membership pages. This approach also allowed for access to Contact information to be offered directly from the main menu which included an online form linked with their CRM.
The Result
The new design reflects the DVT branding which conveys a serene, crisp and modern feeling that todays travellers are comfortable with. Making every part of the website accessible from the main navigation menu has improved the user experience for site visitors especially those looking for tourism-related information on mobile devices.
Featured image credit: Greg Power from Great Aussie Photo Tours at Mt Field National Park.
