The Virginblue.com.au website experience is dated and fails to deliver an inspiring brand experience. Navigation is complex with too many sub-menus and tabs. Sub-brands like Blue Holidays and Velocity are inconsistently integrated. Opportunities exist to introduce more interactivity through features like a travel recommendation generator and user-generated destination gallery. The site could also give consumers a stronger voice to shape the brand through ideas sharing.

1. VIRGINBLUE.COM.AU Analysing the Virginblue.com.au user experience, navigation and interface design

2. VIRGINBLUE.COM.AU Initial Site Audit Usability Assessment OVERALL EXPERIENCE The website experience for Virginblue at present is uninspiring and fails to deliver an on-brand experience. The site feels significantly dated with in page linking and complex multi-tabbed navigation that takes significant effort to negotiate and locate priority areas quickly. Too many sub-brands are included within the site without clear relationship to each other. Some open within the same site (blue holidays and Velocity) others open a new page (V Australia). This does not convey a sense of professionalism and jumping unexpectedly between the sub-brand pages can make users question whether they are on an official Virginblue endorsed site. Users are unlikely to view Virgin Blue as forward thinking or even up to date with technology despite the fact that the content exists but is buried in further pages or relegated to areas of low visual impact.

3. VIRGINBLUE.COM.AU Analysis Usability Assessment NAVIGATION There are too many areas for users to look to for navigation. The top of the screen has a primary set of navigation tabs (personal, business, velocity, holidays, V Australia) that do not correlate with what would generally be the average users most prioritised search requirements (make a booking, check-in, manage bookings, velocity rewards, etc). The secondary tabs (home, bookings, flight info, services, specials, travel, destinations) are awkwardly labelled and feature too many drop down options. There are three other navigation sections; the Find Flights on the left, Flight Specials bottom middle and a quick links section is buried in the bottom right of the page (well outside of a typical F scanning pattern used by most users).

4. VIRGINBLUE.COM.AU Analysis Usability Assessment LOOK AND FEEL & LABELLING Navigation items are at times doubled up on the same page and confusingly named. Flights vs Flight Specials vs Flight Info creates a complex user experience. Holidays (primary tab) vs Holiday Deals vs Holidays in the left hand quick links section is equally confusing. Items need to be prioritised, regrouped and the overall labelling and naming systems reviewed. Multiple icon styles create an uneasy balance on the site, with a mix of glossy buttons, 3D icons, flat and reversed symbols as well as photography placed across pages. Floating elements do not align with each other on several pages and are not contained within a holding shape or grid. The brand red of Virgin and muted greys dominate the colour of most visual elements. An extended colour palette is required to refresh the brand look and feel to stay market relevant with competitors.

5. VIRGINBLUE.COM.AU Analysis Usability Assessment INTERACTIVE CONTENT & SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION Poor quality illustration and photography dominate the flash promotion in the centre of the homepage. Multiple fonts across the various sections communicate an unprofessional brand image that lacks design consideration and visual impact to catch the attention of users and draw them to special offers. The small flash banners below are in a lower visually scanned section and need to be more dynamic and engaging to compete for attention. The social media icons are tiny and hidden in the bottom left corner. They appear to be an afterthought which has been added to the site well after the original launch. Barely visible, there is no incentive to follow or visit Virginblue beyond the primary site.

6. OPPORTUNITIES Introducing concepts to elevate the website experience and improve synergy with supporting digital channels

7. HOLIDAY GENERATOR Opportunities Usability Assessment GENERATE TRAVEL RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON USER INPUTS To introduce more interactivity within the website, a holiday planner interface could be introduced that allows users to quickly tailor their personal interests, preferences and maximum flying distance to generate recommended destinations. • Engage consumers and offer surprise destinations • Recommendations can tie in with destination galleries • Implementable across both website and mobile/iPad platforms • Improves VirginBlue brand perception as playful, energetic and forward looking

8. AMAZING DESTINATIONS GALLERY Opportunities Usability Assessment Maintaining momentum from original launch efforts has dwindled Current Desired Current Virginblue image tags do not align with brand values A DESTINATION GALLERY Currently saturated with uninspiring aeroplane images, both the website and sites like Flickr are fantastic portals to show a positive company culture and promote VirginBlue in a visual manner. Destination images and photogenic staff in exotic locations (an image that VirginBlue was previously renowned for as mentioned in several social media references) offer significant potential to expand this area into the website through user generated content and social media channels. • Allow users to post exciting and exotic images to the website • Incentivise them with rewards points and create brand advocacy • Provides the Virginblue Twitter site with content to repost (e.g ‘Check out these amazing shots from User324 … http://ow.ly/3ppvU’) • Create more synergy between the website and social media channels • Mobile app puts VirginBlue brand onto users mobile platforms • Tie in with media like the ‘Amazing Race’ with sponsorship

9. AMAZING DESTINATIONS GALLERY Opportunities Usability Assessment A DESTINATION GALLERY The concept could stretch not only across the website with both professional and user generated content, but develop into a branded app on other platforms

10. A DESTINATION GALLERY A free mobile app linked to the concept could encourage user generated content and put the VirginBlue brand on mobile platforms. Users could be Incentivised by offering rewards points for images posted

11. WE LISTEN Opportunities Usability Assessment GIVE CONSUMERS MORE OF A VOICE TO SHAPE THE VIRGINBLUE BRAND In a similar style to Starbucks and Dell’s Ideastorm, an ideas portal can be integrated into the website to encourage consumers to post their ideas on improving the VirginBlue experience. A voting style will allow the best ideas to elevate to the top of the list and help shape the future of the VirginBlue brand experience • Give consumers a strong tool to express their wants and needs • Utilise the power of crowd-sourcing to see what the market is demanding • Promotes transparency and encourages brand discussion • Great ideas are actually implemented at appropriate intervals

12. VIRGINBLUE.COM.AU Early Wireframe Concept Usability Assessment BACKGROUND IMAGE BACKGROUND IMAGE CENTERED PAGE LAYOUT

13. VIRGINBLUE.COM.AU Early Wireframe Concept Usability Assessment ELEVATED SOCIAL MEDIA MEMBER LOGIN / AJAX STYLE SEARCH SINGLE TIER NAVIGATION INTERACTIVE CONTENT QUICK FLIGHT BOOKING NEW FEATURES BACKGROUND IMAGE BACKGROUND IMAGE PRIORITISED LINKS PROMOTIONAL BANNERS NEWSLETTER / FACEBOOK SIGNUP SUB-BRANDS / PARTNERSHIPS CENTERED PAGE LAYOUT BACKGROUND IMAGE

14. CHRISTIAN TENISWOOD cteniswood@geosotal.com +65 8233 4295