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Thames Clipper Website

Design and development of a website to informing users about the Thames River boat service and stimulate usage for visiting tourist attractions around the Thames.

This cases study demonstrates our end to end website design and development abilities. Specifically it shows our capabilities in user experience design and development using the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) platform and the Joomla Content Management System.

The Context

Thames Clippers is the largest commuter boat service on the river Thames. They have 13 boats taking both commuters and tourists between 14 piers along the river. It also runs an Express service to The O2 in support of Arena events.

The Objectives

Thames Clippers needed a new website which would inform users about the boat service and persuade them to use it. Specifically the site was to target commuters, tourists and visitors to The O2 travellers and was to demonstrate the convenience along with the unique experience that travelling by boat offers.

The Process

Initially we worked closely with the Thames Clippers team to understand their customers and the benefit s the service offered. Using this information we brainstormed features and functions to get the proposition across to users. These were reviewed with the client team and a site architecture was agreed.

We focused the site on 3 key objectives:

1. Learning about the service. This gave all the information about the boats, including image galleries, layouts and a video showing the experience of using the service.
   
   
2. Information for travellers. This gave the information people need to make a journey by boat, times, pier locations, booking and connections. Google maps were integrated to show pier locations.
   
   
3. Information for tourists. This gave tourists ideas and tips for spending time on the river. This included a database of attractions and restaurants need the river, image galleries of the spectacular views from the boats, suggested river walks as well as a river hotspots map, showing places of interest and inviting users to submit their recommendations.  

We developed an interactive prototype to flesh out the functionality of the site features and test the architecture and user experience. We then authored functional specifications allowing the technical team to implement the site.

Development was undertaken using the Joomla CMS with custom databases being created to host the river attractions and hotspots. Google maps were integrated to allow places of interest to be shown visually with reference to the river.

The Outcome

The site was launched in August 2008 and was warmly received by both the client and users. The site also achieved site of the week in a New Media Age review scoring 81 out of a possible 100 points.  

Visit the Thames Clippers website

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