Fantasy Forest (Olympia) is Yorkshire's largest leisure centre. It's got three floors comprising a bowling alley, two floors of amusements, snooker, crazy golf, dodgems, soft play, a slot casino a balcony sports bar and a diner.
This is a curious site because the knee jerk design would be to make lots of things move around using Macromedia Flash to mirror the excitement of the place. Actually I put this out for usability testing before I even got the project and one tester in particular came back with lots of issues about Powerbowl.co.uk .. hating the soundtrack, it not being up to date, all that. And that's partly why I don't do Flash .. it's not really usable (try cutting and pasting their postcode into Google Maps, or their phone number into Skype), and it's surely more expensive to update.
I'm a usability kind of chap, and the owner contacted me having seen what I do. I like him, he's a no nonsense businessman who will be measuring this investment according to how many bookings he gets from the website. So stop reading this and book a party for chrissakes!
The other thing I like about this client is he let me just get on with it. So the text is mine, the photographs are mine .. they haven't changed anything (yet). So it's a great example of me getting free reign and designing for the sort of person who will go to Fantasy Forest (Olympia).
OK, that's almost anyone. But perhaps there's a slant towards people who are into gaming, younger people, and perhaps there's a bias against reading a whole lot. So our images need to tell our story and the text should be succinct and perhaps our users are more likely to have a decent Internet connection so we can relax a little on the download speeds in order to deliver the images we need.
It was nice too that this client is local. It allowed me to walk down and take photographs whenever I felt it necessary. I did that five times: once when the alley was empty, once when it was full, once in the sun, again at night, and finally I took a panorama off the balcony bar, and each time I got a bit more information from the people and, hopefully, started to build a relationship.
Feedback on this site from the usability testers included appreciation of the link to the rules and techniques "a nice touch". It wasn't immediately obvious what to do to book, so I made that bolder
There's a branding or image benefit here too. Fantasy Forest (Olympia) gave "the impression that it's not the typical seaside amusements. The pictures on the bowling page show that it seems like a nice environment to play." "After seeing the website I'd be more inclined to go because the website gives you a good idea of what to expect." "My opinion of Olympia has definitely improved after seeing the website. The website does look professional and the content reads well. I think the detail in the text, for example, the links to transport companies, just makes it easier to plan a trip to Olympia." "Looks great, easy to use and it does show Olympia in a good light. I like the links to external websites for help, it makes you think that the company wants you to enjoy your game & its also useful."
As far as bookings go, "I'd be more likely to book using the phone because you know that the person has got your booking at the other end, however if there was an online form & a confirmation email was sent, I'd most probably book online." This was before the booking form went online.
And the design: "The page backgrounds are great, on some websites website backgrounds that are photographs look tacky, but I think they work well here because they show the area and the venue rather than just being pointless (especially like the one with the donkey). Also the page navigation is nice and easy, the links are in the same place, you become accustomed to it straight away."
Compared to others: Megabowl "A lot of the information on the megabowl site has been bullet pointed and is quite minimal .. this feels a bit cold, the narrative in the Olympia site makes it more personal."
This took 56 hours overall, costing £2,500 plus £50 for the domain name and hosting, all on time and within budget.