matthew.d.mercer, visual thinker

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Online games have been a significant part of Orbitz's brand and presence for years now. When the original version of Orbitz Games launched in 2004, it was all centered around their marketing campaign at the time and was a fairly limited solution; it presented the games that had previously existed as online advertisements, but offered little else in the way of content or community. When a redesign was in order, key considerations were: making a site that wasn't entirely Flash-based like its predecessor, making it support IAB standard ad units (for additional revenue), and ensuring that there was functionality and content to reflect the games' fans and community. The result is a modular site, wherein most of the pieces and parts work with dynamic content and templates to accommodate rotating advertisements. Also, rather than merely presenting all the games in a giant list, the games are segmented by type and rated by the community. Members can rate their favorites and order them by preference; the site reflects top-rated games and favorites on the fly. Game leaderboards and shout-outs allow high scorers to receive kudos amongst their peers; a robust comments engine allows users to post their thoughts on each individual game page. The relaunch helped focus on Orbitz Games fans and cultivated a more genuine sense of community, while allowing new games to be highlighted with promotions and special offers.

Client: Orbitz, LLC
Date published: Spring 2007
Role: Information Architecture & Design
Studio: 15 letters inc.

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Creative director: Mark Rattin
IA & design: David Petti
IA & design: Matthew Mercer
Programming & database developer: Rich Hanson
Graphic production: Andrew Heidgerken
Project coordinator: Jayme Kuramitsu
Paper prototype testing: John W Fisher II & David Petti
Copywriter: Amy Dunlap
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