Château Frandeux
Château Frandeux is accommodation located in a quiet area, ideal for weekends away with larger groups. It is situated on the border of the Belgian Ardennes, in the region of 'Les Famennes', part of the Namen province in Wallonia. This region is also referred to as the Land of the Valleys. It is a land of castles with a rich and varied heritage. The hamlet Frandeux consists of around 40 houses and is situated 6 km from Rochefort.
Château Frandeux contacted us in 2012 for a website design and development. And now, 5 years later, we have modernized the entire website and made it more user-friendly.
Interaction & User Experience Design
The website that we developed for Château Frandeux in 2012, was designed according to dated design principles. Getting the visitor to the information he or she was looking for took too many clicks and this led to visitor loss.
It was crucial to focus on the visitor in the design process, that the new website was user-friendly and making sure that each visitor could easily find the information needed. Another focus point was the possibility to make a reservation on the website and that all three locations were visible at the same time.
In order to meet these requirements, our UX designer created a new flowchart that formed the base in the wireframing process.
User Interface Design
After completing and testing the interaction design, we were able to translate the content into nice visualizations. During this process, it is highly important to create the appropriate look and feel. Due to the fact that people book the Château Frandeux accommodations for their quite and natural environment, is was out task to include this in the website design. This led us to choosing beaitiful, large pictures that show the surroundings and choosing for the colour green as main colour, due to its association with nature.
During the design process, we have put a lot of thought into animations and transitions. We wanted the website to have a sense of tranquility. This was achieved by hiding extensive information but making this known and visible to the used by implementing little animations.
Realisation
This project brought several challenges for our developers. Our UX designer created multiple animations and transitions for the website that are challenging and complex to implement when user experience is of great importance.
Another challenge we faced during the development process was the calendar and reservation module. The module used on the current website of Château Frandeux was in need of some big improvements. In the new module, the visitor can see an overview of the availability of all three accommodations. In the reservation form on the bottom of the page, the visitor can indicate which accommodation he or she is interested is, for which dates and for how many guests. In the case that the choses date is not available, the form will directly show the error.