Design Portfolio Examples

Brochure design, promotional emails & general design work

Quick showcase of design work during various work, college and side projects.

Side Project for the College: brochure design for an upcoming conference at the college 2012. 7 page brochure, three page examples below.(Photoshop and Publisher)

Work Projects: Promotional emails while working as Web Content Creator for one of the largest online shoe shops in Europe. Click on the images below to view full size.(Photoshop)

 

Side project: Brochure for Second Chance animal shelter in 2010 (Photoshop)

College project: Menu development and design 2011 (Photoshop). 

Marketing Project - Video

As part of Resort and Hotel Management diploma program, I take a Marketing course and our task was to produce a video that would promote the college, our program area or higher education as a whole and 3-5 minutes long.

My concept is 100 reasons to go to Selkirk (in 3 minutes), the final reason is the punchline of the video concept. I'll let you watch it, see what you think.

While I was making my project I also made this video for the Sk8fest event at Selkirk College. I wish I had a better quality camera, but I still had fun. 

Sk8fest 2012 event at Selkirk College

As students of Resort and Hotel Management at Selkirk College,  we all helped to produce an event for a Skatepark fundraiser last friday. The event took place at Mary Hall at Selkirk College10th Street. It was an evening of entertainment including buskers from the Music program, Nelson Rhythm Ropers and skateboard demonstrations as well as fabulous food prepared by the Resort and Hotel Management first years, and served by the second years. 

Below is a video I made from the night...enjoy! 

The Selkirk Gala 2011

Selkirk College Gala and live auction is one of the most important events of the year at Selkirk College, raising a large amount of funds for our college programs.With approximately 200 people in attendance it was an evening of fabulous food, student and attendee interaction, a tremendous amount of generous donations for the live and silent auctions and entertainment.

This year I was part of the team to organise this event, an event that went very sucessfully and we thoroughly enjoyed being a part of. 

Event Preparations

Long before the event began we had lots of responsibilities:

• Decorations  - One of the most important visual parts of the whole event, to set the whole style of the room. We chose classy and elegant ceiling lanterns with flickering and static battery operated tea lights to create a warm glow. Our centre pieces were deco artsy and spherical to match the circular lanterns, along with fresh flowers. Our table numbers were classically decorated to match the overall theme. These were all sourced/created prior to the event.

 

• Creating the auction - Auction items were generously donated from regular donors along with contributions from a number of student summer placement establishments. Our instructor took over the logistics of the auction but I created the visual aids for the live and silent auctions that would be displayed on the overhead projectors. During the live auction the packages would be displayed with images, package details and donor information and during the rest of the evening the silent auction repeated all the items until they expired. 

 

• Creating the floor plan - I used MeetingMatrix to create floor plans of Mary Hall, that way at set up we could hand the floor plans to our larger team for them to follow. 
• Assigning tasks and roles to the team - I assigned roles and duties for set-up and during the event for 4 managers (ourselves) along with approximately 20 staff required. Prior to set-up I had broken down everyone into three teams, one for decor, one for table set-up, one for auction set up. As soon as everyone arrived they knew what they were doing and set-up happened quite quickly.
  For service I made three serving teams with team captains, a bar team and a raffle/auction team. 
• Event night! - All preparations complete it was time for the event. The event opened with a reception upstairs from the function room with passed canapes, champagne and student booths showcasing the talents and work from various courses from the college.
  Once the guests flowed down to the large hall they were submersed into the evening of entertainment, auction and great food.
• I was in control of expediting food from the kitchen, with 24 tables with 8 - 10 people at each one. It was upto the serving team captains to find out about allergies and special requests prior to service. I had to ensure the correct items and correct number of meals went to each table. So calling over 600 plates from the kitchen was a challenging job, but great experience. 

 

• The event also involved music provided by students of the music program and dancers that were organized and paid for by the college.

Overall, it was a great experience. I would not hesitate to do this again and I am so glad we got to help organize this event.

Online Reputation Management

& the impact of the social Internet to the hospitality industry

The Internet is a valuable resource for the hospitality industry and online content is becoming a main participant in generating customers. A serious issue that needs to be considered is that we are not always in control of the information out there, especially since the explosion of social media. It is important to recognize the significance of user-generated content and managing your online reputation. This report will discuss the impact of various online mediums used by customers and how you can handle negative content. 

Definition: Online Reputation Management

Online reputation management, or ORM, is the monitoring and identification of online content about a brand or a company and quickly delivering the appropriate responses to minimize the impacts of consumer-generated content. 

Indirect and direct mediums for customer generated content

We have direct platforms which include online review websites such as TripAdvisor. The main function of these types of websites is to provide a place for consumers to write reviews. Secondly, we have our more indirect mediums which primary function is not for reviews but customer opinion can still make it out into the world, for example Facebook and Twitter. 

TripAdvisor is the front runner of hospitality review websites, but we have an abundance of other websites such as Expedia and hotels.com that also have integrated reviews into their websites. 

The impact of customer generated content

The following statistics are compiled from a variety of sources but stress the impacts of the social Internet.

Tourism BC: Tourism Operators Guide to Online Reputation Management cites:  “Forrester Research analysts report that consumers share 500 billion impressions about products and services online annually, and more than 60% of them are shared on Facebook” . Therefore, it is entirely evident that consumer opinion is widespread across social media.

More importantly, “35% of social media users changed their hotel after browsing a social platform”, this data comes from a report from the World Travel Market, November 2010 as cited in the Hoteliers Guide from Revinate. Therefore, if you can manage this content correctly you can greatly reduce the negative impact it has to your business.

A TripAdvisor commissioned survey with 7000 respondents states that 82.5% use the Internet to plan a trip,  64.2% of respondents read travel-related blogs, 80% agree reading others reviews increases confidence when choosing a destination to go on vacation (Online Travel Review report from Tripadvisor.com) 

 Advantages of customer generated content

• You get to know what your customers really think; they have less fear saying things out loud when they are behind the safety of a computer screen. The Internet seems less confrontational than face-to-face communication and is considered more anonymous.
• You can interact with your customers before and after they arrive; the experience doesn’t end when they leave the hotel.
• It can spread the word of your hotel to people who may not usually consider it, for example in status updates on social media if it is presented in a positive light.
• If reputation is managed correctly it can encourage more guests to your business, particularly if you  show that you care about your customers from the professionalism in your responses, even to negative content. 

Disadvantages of customer generated content

• Some reviewers are not real; they could be a disgruntled ex-employee or people posting for a prank.
• Competitors can cheat by writing their own positive reviews and negative ones for other competing businesses.
• One recent negative out of 100’s could change the minds of customers if it is not dealt with efficiently.
• Bad news spreads fast, especially in the world of Twitter and Facebook where content can be shared or re-tweeted at the click of a button.

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is the front runner in vacation planning, hotel and destination reviews. In September 2011 a press release from TripAdvisor states it had over 50 million unique monthly visitors to their website, it also has over 20 million registered users and 30 international versions of the website. TripAdvisor boasts an average of 23 user submitted reviews every minute according to a second TripAdvisor press release. It is a widely used website and is one of the major travel decision-making tools used today. 

 

Implement Online Reputation Management for your business

There are three main areas in the life cycle of ORM, firstly building your online reputation, secondly monitoring your online reputation and lastly recovering and responding to content which will be discussed in the following section of this paper. 

1. Take control of your platform profiles

When you first develop your online business presence you need to ensure you are presenting yourself in the way that you expect to be perceived. As a Hotel brand or individual property you want to create your own content before somebody else does it for you. TripAdvisor allows hotels to take ownership over their section and control over official content. This involves identifying what impression you want your customers to have. It is important at this point to get a professional portfolio of images and video to showcase your hotel in the best light possible. Amateurish images will lead customers to believe that this is the type of business you are running. Anyone can manipulate images so a video will definitely give more points in your favour, possibly a video tour of your property or a room at the hotel. According to a TripAdvisor article,customers are 150% more engaged when a property has more than 20 photos.

You want to identify all the platforms in which you wish to partake in. Facebook and Twitter are two great tools, especially if you want to have more candid interaction with your customers before, after or even during their stay. These can be real time with recent technologies such as cell phone apps which link directly to Facebook and Twitter.You should develop your official business profiles, that you can monitor, to give space for interaction with users. 

YouTube and other online video websites can be tougher to handle since video content can show explicit details about an issue of your property for example a cleanliness issue. If this issue is identified in video (which is a lot harder to manipulate than a photograph), it is more impactful to prospective guests. It would be beneficial to create your own YouTube channel with professional video content. You should be able to identify the correct key terms in order to get your content to display in searches first and put more negative contributions further down the listing.

It is important for a customer to see if the hotel or destination is a fit for them, if they are given a false positive impression then they are going to be disappointed when they arrive. If they get a true impression and decide against the property then it just means the hotel wasn’t for them. It is good that they discovered this before they came, to avoid the negative repercussions, so make sure your generated content is truthful. 

2. Monitor for new customer generated contributions

A business needs to decide who is going to be responsible for the monitoring; you may have a dedicated person or maybe a group of people. Larger companies can afford to employ a dedicated social media person to handle online reputation functions whereas this might fall to the duties of front desk staff in a smaller operation or even management responsibility.  It is important you identify content as soon as possible and it is something that should be monitored daily. 

For direct review websites such as TripAdvisor, you can set up alerts to notify you by email when a review is posted for your hotel. From within the control panel of TripAdvisor you can monitor statistics of your property as well as comparing it to other properties.

For other social media it can be a little trickier to monitor; however there are some excellent tools around that can simplify it a lot. 

Socialmention.com

Socialmention.com is a great, free tool online that you can use to monitor social media content. You simply enter your keyword or search term and socialmention.com will bring up all the results posted about your company/business and then let you narrow it down into a variety of areas.

You can select if you want to display just negative, positive or neutral content. You can filter by platform for example all the Facebook mentions or by tweets. You can select various key words from the ones you identify but also other key words it suggests. You can also view your top talkers by username, so you can identify important influencers on the Internet - good or bad. 

Socialmention.com lets you know the details about how often your brand is being talked about, the ratio of negative to positive and other useful statistics. It requires no login or sign up and is free to use.  

Revinate

Revinate is online reputation management software designed for the needs of the hospitality industry. It allows hotels, restaurants and brands to quickly identify online content about them and give them opportunity to respond. A lot of top brand hotels have already integrated Revinate into their operations.

Revinate is also useful for gaining knowledge from your competitors; it actually analyzes competitors reviews and social media content. This can help you identify weaknesses and gaps in the market or see what customers like about your competitors that you need to improve on. 

3. Responding to online reviews and social content

Daniel Edward Craig an author and hotel consultant has a lot of insight into online reputation management.  He describes two cycles, one of positivity and one of negativity:

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It is quite evident from the cycles that Daniel Edward Craig talks about that you have one of two routes from which to choose from. Companies which actively engage in the comments of their customers and introduce improvements will be more highly regarded since they are showing that they care about their customers' wants and needs. Companies who choose to ignore the requests of customers are going to encourage more reviews highlighting the same problems and future customers are likely to find an alternative.

According to statistics from TripAdvisor how to guides, 71% of customers agree that seeing a management response to reviews is important to them, 79% agree that a management response to a bad review reassures them. 78% feel a management response to a good review makes them think more highly of the hotel. 60% say that when comparing two properties, seeing management responses could sway them in its favour over those without and manager presence. Tourism BC: Tourism Operators Guide to Online Reputation Management guide states that only 7% of negative reviews on TripAdvisor get responses from managers. You can see that there is room for improvement, and if you can become a leader in this area you will be steps ahead of the competition.

Writing management responses to positive reviews

When replying to positive reviews it is important to thank the guests for their contributions, and it is also an opportunity to welcome them back in the future. You should not be overly dramatic with your remarks though, and it is a good idea to respond to a lot but maybe not all positive reviews as it can been seen as repetitive. Sometimes it is possible to identify the customers from what they speak about so take these opportunities to personalize your response. It could also be a chance to expand on something they mention and promote another element of your business that readers may find useful. 

Writing management responses to negative reviews

It is important to be tactful in your management response to a negative review. It is not appropriate to respond in an argumentative way as this will make you look extremely bad in the eyes of other customers. It is your opportunity to show your professionalism as a manager and deal with the problem appropriately.

Firstly, always thank a reviewer for the contribution and explain that you take comments seriously. If it is an issue that requires more discussion, for example an issue that you, as a manager, were unaware of or something a little more sensitive then invite the reviewer to contact you offline so you can discuss matters further. You should always highlight any good aspects of the review and don’t get into details or excuses for negative parts of the review. Explain you will take their comments into consideration and pass details onto the relevant departments so you can show you care and are going to take time to iron out the problems that the guest may have encountered.

If you suspect a review may be from a fraudulent source or that it is containing scandalous information you have the option to report as inappropriate or dispute a review from the management tool. TripAdvisor will investigate all disputes and the company has sophisticated procedures that it uses to identify these types of reviews. 

Interacting on other media

Facebook, Twitter and other social media give enormous opportunities for customer interaction. Utilizing search facilities like socialmention.com you can see what is being tweeted about you and even short bursts of conversation can show that you care. This example below demonstrates how simple interactions can be impactful.

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Evolve 24 and Maritz Research completed a Twitter study in September 2011 which shows the impact of company responses on social media displayed in the charts below. It is evident from these statistics that customers are enjoying this online interaction. You can definitely help your reputation as a company if you are interacting with customers in a more informal manner yet remaining professional. Although the response space is limited it is easy enough to respond and always contact them directly if it requires a detailed discussion.

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In Conclusion

The importance of online reputation management is increasing due to the technologies which are being developed; not only can content be created online, it is now updatable 24 hours a day through cellphone applications which now have a direct interface to upload content. If you are receiving negative reviews online you need to consider the root of the problem. It is important to show that you care and follow up on reviews that put your company in an unfair light. You should be looking at your company and identifying the problem areas and fixing them.

Treat all guests like they are your reviewers; treat all guests as though they are VIP's that you have to impress. Above all show your customers that you care and give them great service; if something does goes wrong ensure they are happy before they leave. The only fullproof way to ensure your online reputation portrays you the way you want to be seen is to ensure you are offering a top-notch service and keeping your customers happy.

This report is posted for an assignment for Resort and Hotel Management at Selkirk College

All one big experiment...

Here goes, my first blog post! This is all part of an assignment for school, so slightly experimental. Watch this space!