Visit California

Visit California

For 10 years, visitcalifornia.com served as a tactical call to action for Visit California’s brand advertising activity. In early 2014, the organization came to Code and Theory to help them totally reimagine the Visit California experience and to better translate their story and message to the digital space.

The solution was to completely transform the website, and put high-quality editorial content front and center. The new visitcalifornia.com was imagined as an inspirational guide to entice the senses and better showcase the diversity of the state's beauty and wealth of activities.

It would quite literally be the perfect embodiment of Visit California’s “Dream Big” brand marketing platform.

1

Fostering Discovery

The new platform was designed to be a source of inspiration to potential visitors, and to ultimately drive travel to the Golden State.

The user experience on the site fosters discovery through its flexible structure and responsive design. For example:

Endless discovery. Long scrolling pages with cinematic blocks of photography and editorial allowed the Visit California team more flexibility and control to produce, package, and arrange every type of content.

A clear path to discover more. Recognizing how travel seekers search for information, the design treats article pages as entry points that are as valuable as the homepage. Visitors are presented with clear paths to discover more content, and there are no dead ends.

Completely responsive. Recognizing how travelers seek information across multiple devices, visitors to the site now enjoy the same high-quality browsing experience on their desktop at home as they get on a phone or tablet.

2

Contextualized Content

C7fa5647685721e07493c64a3649f1311bc15c7d

The new visitcalifornia.com focuses on the unique value a statewide tourism organization provides—providing context for what a visitor can experience throughout the state and creating excitement for a California vacation.

Inspired consumers are then directed to local DMO (Destination Marketing Organization) sites and best-in-class third-party sites to complete the planning and booking process.

The modular design system shifts the focus away from an overwhelming and exhaustive content approach towards a highly curated, "less is more" model. Content can exist in multiple places as single editorial units on any page, including:

Region pages

Region pages introduce the twelve key regions of California and showcase the diverse geography of each. Each region page serves up important information like the high & low temperatures of the current season and contextual content including key destinations, curated trips, events, and special features.

Destination Pages

A destination page offers a more granular view into a destination, like the attractions, activities, and weather. Each page element is socially shareable, and visitors are invited to browse through additional content like videos and photos, or click through to a partner site for more details.

Special Features

Special features are curated lists of attractions that bring California's color to life—like the state’s top five surf spots.

Events

Event pages allow Visit California’s website editors to feature both single and multi-day events in their region.

Trips

Trips are curated collections of destinations with a start and ending point. As the visitor scrolls the "TripTracker" interface, it highlights where they are within the trip sequence. Each stop contains supplemental information like planning links, distance to the next stop and local tourist attractions.

3

Foundation for Growth

Visitcalifornia.com is truly a new foundation for growth.

Designed with its visitors’ and travel partners’ needs at the very forefront, the site is a nimble tool that can scale and flex according to business needs.

Built on the Drupal CMS platform, the site provides an extendable information architecture and administrative interface that supports the editorial needs of Visit California. Editors from different regions can translate existing content into their own language, modify its structural make-up based on local requirements, and embed social media content for reference.

The U.S. version of the site launched in January 2015, followed by the rollout of twelve global sites through that year.

In May 2015, the new visitcalifornia.com won a Webby for “Best Association Website” in the 19th Annual Webby Awards.

Driving B2B Growth

Partnering with some of the world's largest companies to fuel their business-to-business expansion.

Tipico Featured Module
Tipico

Succeeding on a Mission to Win Ohio

AOR leading an integrated campaign to capitalize on the moment and bring Tipico to market.

Read More
  • Challenging category conventions to create a differentiated connection with audiences
  • Speaking with Ohio sports fans the same way they speak to each other
  • Working in an Integrated Agency team to connect through all media channels, including the app

Evolving E-commerce to Fit Modern Audiences

We are shaping the digital transformation of the industry by creating strong connections between audiences and brands.

Screen Shot 2023 03 01 at 11 14 04 AM
Marriott Bonvoy

Reimagining Marriott Bonvoy as a Hub for Travel and Commerce

Evolving Bonvoy’s design system to be more modern and immersive while staying true to the core strong brand identity.

Read More
  • Mobile-First
  • Contextualized Conversion
  • Flexible Design and Content Systems

Leading With Empathy and Inclusivity

Having deeper conversations, widening the funnel, and driving innovation with an inclusive-first lens.

CASE CARD Blowout Top Image Size Image of 7680 432
Allspring

Speed to Market for a Portfolio Optimization Tool

Crafting a UI for a complex product through user input and clear data visualization.

Read More
  • Improving workflow processes through enhanced user interface design
  • Clear and simple data visualizations for complex data sets
  • Designing a roadmap to continue to iterate and optimize the product on a rolling basis post-launch

Transforming Education's Forefront

Defining the future of digital experiences in education.

Pfizer World| Shaping a Platform into a Beacon for New Priorities and Ways of Work

Pfizer World

<p>Pfizer World</p>

Transforming a platform into a meaningful beacon to set new priorities and ways of working.

Read More
Galleri| Introducing a Revolutionary Medical Feat to the Market

Galleri

<p>Galleri</p>

Creating the first B2C campaign and user experience for a first-of-its-kind cancer detection test.

Read More

Evolving the Financial Services Model

We’re transforming an antiquated industry through cutting-edge design and driving the future of finance forward.

Award WebbyW3 0031Ad Age 0023

Recognition

  • Code and Theory

    Webby Awards

    2022 Best Magazine – Websites and Mobile Sites
  • Code and Theory

    W3 Awards

    2021 Best in Show General Websites-Associations
  • Code and Theory

    Ad Age

    2020 Agency A-List

All Work

 2023

Says a Lot —

Latest

News — 

Ringier | Leading International Media Company Ringier Appoints Stagwell’s (STGW) Code and Theory to Transform the Blick Brand

News — 

Code and Theory Takes the Stage at Web Summit Rio

News — 

PRNewswire | Code and Theory, a Stagwell (STGW) Network Company, is Building New Artificial Intelligence Capabilities with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

News — 

PRNewswire | Stagwell (STGW) Marketing Cloud Taps Former Microsoft Chief Data Analytics Officer John Kahan, Code and Theory Chairman Dan Gardner as Advisors

News — 

PRNewswire | Code and Theory Network Agency Kettle Promotes Lauren Kushner to CEO

News — 

PRNewswire | Stagwell's Code and Theory Network Expands Its Digital Transformation and Engineering Globally with Addition of YML

News — 

Ad Age | Top 5 Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Efforts To Know About Right Now

News — 

PRNewswire | Stagwell (STGW) Digital-First Creative Agency Code and Theory Launches Industry's First Holistic Inclusive Design and Marketing Strategy Discipline