Tag Archives: design

Choose your own language

One of my favourite sites is AirBnB. I like the concept, I like their design and I have used it to book accommodation for almost all of our trips while we have been in Europe. Sometimes the site switches to German from my profile selection of English which is a minor pain but it also brought home an interesting function of the website: the language picker.

On AirBnB, the language dropdown (or, dropup, actually) uses native language names or characters and the only icon is a globe on the actual dropdown. This struck me as interesting given the emphasis on colour throughout the rest of the site. This function felt a little boring and I wondered why they don’t use flags as I have seen elsewhere. Continue reading Choose your own language

Visit Copenhagen

The Copenhagen tourist website is probably the best example I’ve seen of a city promoting itself really well. Amsterdam has a pretty good one too, but too busy and lacking the clear voice of the Danish capital’s. I especially like the way that visit copenhagen includes streams of external content from instagram or twitter without losing their focus.
My other impression is of authenticity. Obviously, I realise that I am being sold something (Copenhagen), but it doesn’t feel outlandish or pushy. All the attractions or destinations are lovingly described in a way that actually lets me choose whether it fits what I want to do or see. For example:
“Have you met Aksel, Marko, Marcon, Ludvig, Bo and Louise? Experience Visit Carlsbergs impressive brewery horses close up in the stables, the forge or harnessed to the big beerwagons. See them have horseshoes put on and hop aboard the wagons for a tour around the old Carlsberg area.”
Not my thing for this weekend, but I can see how that could appeal to others. When I was a kid I would have been right up for it, without a doubt.
On the other hand: Continue reading Visit Copenhagen