Overview
CityView Trolley Tours is a Boston sightseeing company I worked with earlier in my design career. Years later, I revisited the brand as an independent concept project, redesigning the website from the ground up with a focus on clearer navigation, responsive design, and a more streamlined ticket-buying experience. The project included a new site structure, interactive map and stop information, tour and charter content, and a refreshed visual identity designed to feel more cohesive across desktop and mobile.
Challenge
The existing CityView website contains a large amount of useful information, but the volume and presentation can make it difficult for visitors to quickly find what they need. The redesign focused on simplifying that experience while preserving the information travelers need to compare tours, plan their visit, and purchase tickets.
- Multiple competing calls to action on the home page, without a clear primary path.
- Dense pages with several types of content competing for attention.
- Repeated information across multiple sections of the site.
- Limited visual hierarchy for identifying key information at a glance.
- Navigation that could be simplified around common visitor tasks.
- Mobile usability challenges created by content-heavy layouts.
- A complex legacy logo that was difficult to reproduce clearly at smaller digital sizes.
Challenge
The existing CityView website contains a large amount of useful information, but the volume and presentation can make it difficult for visitors to quickly find what they need. The redesign focused on simplifying that experience while preserving the information travelers need to compare tours, plan their visit, and purchase tickets.
- Multiple competing calls to action on the home page, without a clear primary path.
- Dense pages with several types of content competing for attention.
- Repeated information across multiple sections of the site.
- Limited visual hierarchy for identifying key information at a glance.
- Navigation that could be simplified around common visitor tasks.
- Mobile usability challenges created by content-heavy layouts.
- A complex legacy logo that was difficult to reproduce clearly at smaller digital sizes.
Research & Process
The process began with an audit of the existing website to understand how its content was organized and where the experience could be simplified. I mapped the current site structure, then reorganized the content around clearer user paths and developed a new site map. From there, I began sketching the interface mobile-first, establishing the content hierarchy and core functionality before expanding the design to larger screens.
- Audited the existing website to identify usability, hierarchy, and content-organization issues.
- Mapped the existing site structure to understand how content and pages were connected.
- Developed a simplified site map organized around key visitor needs and tasks.
- Prioritized primary user paths, including exploring tours, finding stops and attractions, purchasing tickets, and requesting charter information.
- Created mobile-first concept sketches to establish content hierarchy and functionality within the most constrained layout.
- Expanded the interface responsively from mobile layouts into the desktop experience.
Research & Process
The process began with an audit of the existing website to understand how its content was organized and where the experience could be simplified. I mapped the current site structure, then reorganized the content around clearer user paths and developed a new site map. From there, I began sketching the interface mobile-first, establishing the content hierarchy and core functionality before expanding the design to larger screens.
- Audited the existing website to identify usability, hierarchy, and content-organization issues.
- Mapped the existing site structure to understand how content and pages were connected.
- Developed a simplified site map organized around key visitor needs and tasks.
- Prioritized primary user paths, including exploring tours, finding stops and attractions, purchasing tickets, and requesting charter information.
- Created mobile-first concept sketches to establish content hierarchy and functionality within the most constrained layout.
- Expanded the interface responsively from mobile layouts into the desktop experience.
Solution
The redesigned experience gives visitors a clearer path from exploring Boston to planning and booking their tour. The navigation was simplified, related content was consolidated, and redundant information was removed to create a more focused experience. Tour options, stops and attractions, FAQs, charter information, and ticket purchasing are now easier to find, with a prominent booking path throughout the site.
The final design brings those improvements together in a responsive system built to work across screen sizes. A simplified visual identity, interactive map, streamlined ticket configurator, and reusable interface patterns create a more cohesive experience while retaining the familiar character and colors of the CityView brand.
Independent concept project. This project was not commissioned by or affiliated with CityView Trolley Tours. CityView and its associated marks, copy, and photography are the property of their respective owner.