The Challenge
Kirker Holidays’ business had been built on a traditional annual-brochure, phone-booking model for a premium, senior cultural-tour audience (classical music, architecture, museums). As part of a technology modernisation (rebuilding onto a headless CMS/web application), the design and research challenge was to test the business’s own internal assumptions: was the phone-first, white-glove model genuinely what customers wanted, or an outdated belief about a “silver surfer” audience that might be more digitally capable than assumed? The brand’s distinctive editorial style (custom watercolour illustration, magazine-style content) needed preserving while resolving real ambiguity between “this is our brand” and “this is what a more tech-savvy audience now expects.”
The Outcome
The live site, unchanged in structure years later, directly reflects the research findings and IA decisions: primary navigation is built around Destinations, Offers, Inspiration, Tailor-Made Holidays, and Cultural Tours and Music Holidays, preserving both curated-tour browsing and an equally prominent bespoke-booking path. ‘Speak to an expert’ remains a persistent, repeated call to action, validating that the phone-first relationship model mattered, just not as the only path, while ‘Request Brochure’ remains available as a secondary touchpoint rather than the primary planning tool, matching the research finding closely.
The Approach
Conducted qualitative interviews with around 20 Kirker customers, spanning the traditional to younger ends of their base, to test internal assumptions directly against real customer perception and behaviour, covering brand perception, typical booking interactions, and comparison to how they book travel elsewhere. Findings challenged internal belief directly: customers valued and were often loyal specifically because of Kirker’s expertise, but were more tech-savvy than assumed, treated the brochure as a nostalgic prompt rather than a primary planning tool, and used the website for research and inspiration ahead of any phone contact.
Led the full information architecture and taxonomy redesign this required: content originally curated for one linear brochure format and personalised by a human after a sales call needed restructuring into a self-service, SEO-visible, multi-entry-point experience, while still surfacing the option to book a fully bespoke tailor-made tour alongside pre-built ones. Designed a shared taxonomy (Countries, Destinations, Regions, Themes) applied consistently across distinct product types. Personally conducted all research and designed the wireframes; led the style guide and oversaw production of remaining mockups working closely with a junior designer.
