Discovering Shingu
Shingu Tourist Association is located in Japan and offers a variety of services for tourists who are interested or visiting the city.
The Goal
Design a pamphlet highlighting the wonderful sights in Shingu and target it towards English speakers in Japan.
My Role
Graphic Designer
Project Duration
32 weeks
Background
This project was a collaboration with Shingu Tourist association. I worked with workers in the company to create and present a final product with the text and images that I was provided.
Top 3 brief goals:
Create an easy to understand flow.
Entice tourists to visit the area.
Educate tourist on how to travel around the area.
Responsibilities
Create sketches
Wireframe and prototype
Present the designs in meetings
Edit designs
References and Research
Reference Materials
Shingu Tourist Association has countless of pamphlets and booklets discussing different topics and sights around Shingu. I was given some of the pamphlets to understand what their branding style is and to incorporate some similar designs in this project. In addition, I received the user persona, company guidelines, text copy, and assets.
Research
Besides the reference materials, I also researched other cities’ pamphlet material within Wakayama. This gave me the opportunity to see how different cities presented themselves and what how I could improve my own design.
Initial Sketches
While waiting to receive the assets for the projects, I began to sketch potential layouts for different sections of the booklet’s design.
Image is King
I really wanted to present the beauty of Shingu to future tourist. This led to picture centered designs.
After I was able to obtain the copy text and images, some of the initial sketches were not feasible due to the amount of text. So I began to redesign and create the first mockups
Meetings and Revisions
I met up with the client to present the booklet. In the meeting, we discussed additional changes with images and layouts that would be best suited for them.
The Outcome
The final pamphlet was a collaboration that strives to inform tourist about all of the sites and how to get there in English.
Lessons Learned
Shingu is a city with amazing sights and history. After finishing the project, I learned more about the city and I learned some important lessons as well. The main two lessons that I learned were:
Be flexible
Over the course of the project, images have been changed multiple times and some design decisions are out of your control. At times like these, being flexible with an open mind helped bring new ideas to the project.
Be prepared
Not all of the design sketches will fit the text and image constraints. Having multiple designs prepared beforehand can help save time in the future if the first plan doesn’t work out.