The Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection
Website Pop-Up Case Study
The Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection offers a fleet of luxury yachts that deliver boutique experiences, blending the sophistication of a Ritz Carlton resort with the exclusivity of a private yacht.
UX/UI Design, User Research
Role:
Timeline:
Three Months
Figma, Microsoft Office Suite
Tools:
To maximize my time, I first met with the two marketing coordinators leading the project. This gave me a better understanding of the timeline, expectations for the final product, and the resources available for my research process.
During our initial meeting, it became evident that direct user research was not feasible for this project and would not be essential for the initial launch of the pop-up design.
With this in mind, I started by analyzing how both Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection and the broader Ritz Carlton brand approached marketing call-to-actions on their existing websites. Once I had a grasp of the company’s existing standards, I expanded my research to examine how similar luxury cruise brands encourage site visitors to join their email communication lists.
The Project
For this project, the marketing team reached out to me to help improve website engagement and increase visitor conversions. Their goal was to encourage site visitors to sign up for marketing emails, ensuring they stayed informed about new itineraries, special offers, and unique experiences.
The Challenge
Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection seeks to establish a more direct way to communicate with website visitors.
The Task:
Design a website pop-up to encourage visitors to sign up for marketing emails while maintaining consistency with the company’s existing design system.
The Plan
The Standard:
Azamara
Regent
Regent took a unique approach compared to Azamara and Silversea by placing a small email input box directly on the homepage. This led users to a larger pop-up that collected additional information.
The User:
Discussions with the marketing director revealed that users had previously provided feedback about the site being difficult to navigate at times.
Keeping this in mind, I focused on designing the pop-up to be easy to navigate, ensuring it didn’t require users to click through too many screens.
The User’s Journey:
After reviewing how similar brands approached their communication pop-ups and gaining a clear understanding of the marketing director’s expectations, I mapped out the user journey to assess how each design concept would influence the overall experience.
The Brand:
Keeping the industry standard and user journey in mind, I took another look at the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection brand to see how my ideas could interact with the brand standard to create a design that felt natural and cohesive.
The Wireframes:
Once I had a solid understanding of which design concepts would likely work, I moved to Figma to give my ideas some meaning.
I began by quickly blocking out each concept at a basic level, which helped me identify the strongest ideas worth developing further for presentation. As I refined the designs, I realized which concepts wouldn’t work for various reasons, and kept my focus on developing my strongest ideas.
When I felt the designs communicated the overall concept clearly, I put them together and prepared to present them to the project coordinator for feedback.
The Initial Iterations:
The initial feedback I received was positive. The marketing team appreciated the value in each design but felt the one below would be the best fit for the company and its users.
One concern I had raised earlier was the lengthy legal disclaimer required in the pop-up. Unfortunately, the company was unable to adjust this content, so I knew I’d have to find a way to work around it in the design.
I spent time refining the selected design, paying close attention to each detail and ensuring the design would be responsive to both mobile and web devices.
The Prototype:
Once I had my final designs, I began referencing the user journey I had mapped out and with my designs, I built an interactive prototype. This would help both the marketing and development teams get a clear sense of how the end design should present for the user.
The Presentation:
I presented the project to the marketing team using the interactive prototype, wireframes, and a progression path highlighting the iterations made since our previous meeting. This review allowed the team to provide any final critiques before the designs were handed off to the development team.
The Final Iterations:
During our final meeting for this project, the marketing team expressed satisfaction with the wireframes, noting how well they aligned with the initial project goals. Feedback focused primarily on considerations for future iterations tied to a partial website redesign planned for the coming year. It was decided to proceed with the current pop-up design until the redesign, at which point I would revisit the design to ensure it remained aesthetically consistent with the site changes.
The Delivery:
With the final product in hand, I uploaded the wireframes to the company’s design repository and added the project to the development team’s task log. In addition to this I reached out to a connection I had on the development team to let them know I was always available should they have any questions regarding the wireframes.
The Outcome:
At the time of writing, the company’s development team is managing a backlog of content for the site. As a result, my project is pending upload, awaiting their availability.
Azamara uses a minimalist pop-up design, featuring an email field and a simple checkbox for users to consent to email communication.
Silversea
Silversea’s pop-up is more detailed, requiring additional user information and occupying more screen space. It also incorporates a photo to enhance visual appeal.