Mad*Pow - Starwood Internet Connection │ Mad*Pow Results

Project Team

Amy Cueva Executives
Leadership Team
Experience Design
Visual Design

Buck Beaudoin Leadership Team
Visual Design

Chris Mellette Visual Design

Mike Woodard Visual Design
Development

Will Powley Executives
Leadership Team
Experience Design
Visual Design

Starwood is one of the world's largest hotel and leisure companies. Their brand names include Westin, W, Sheraton, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Aloft, Le Meridian and Four Points by Sheraton.

Starwood needed assistance defining the next generation experience design for new release of their Internet Connection portals with the goal of providing for an easy connection experience, an enhanced guest stay through rich content offerings, stronger representation of the brand, and better marketing/offer integration/visibility.

We conducted user research at the W Times Square and Westin Times Square in NY to uncover the Internet connection and hotel discovery needs of the business traveler. We architected the experience design through information architecture design and directional interface design. We worked with the individual brand teams of the Westin, W, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Luxury Collection, and St. Regis to ensure that brand objectives and attributes were achieved through the visual design.

The design features a compelling representation of the most recent guidelines for each brand, streamlined navigation, and well integrated offers and promotions.

Insights

Consumer Decisions in a Social World
In a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review that focused on branding, David Edelman articulates how consumers’ engagement with brands is evolving with the proliferation of social media and other digital channels.
5 Steps To Designing A Better Health Care System
The goal of the Healthcare Experience Design Conference (HxD) held in Boston recently was less about dissecting the problems within our existing health care system and more about how we can start solving them. In the keynote address, the U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Todd Park, called on designers to participate in a “self-propelled, open ecosystem of innovation.” As people invested in improving health care through design, we were excited to hear it.
Defining A Social Commerce Strategy
Relying on friends, family and other consumers to gather and share purchase information is fundamental to shopping behavior.