Dora kontha team9 semester 3 1 ba report

Lyngby Kanoklub Bachelor Project Dora Kontha & Teodor Voicilă kea e-concept development June 2015.

Declaration of Originality By signing this document, I hereby declare under the applicable rules and regulations that the report submitted, or the parts of the report submitted for which I have been responsible, has been created solely by me. All quotes, citations, and references included must be clearly designated as such, and neither the report in its entirety nor any substantial parts of it have previously been published in an evaluatory context.

Date: 27.05.2015.

Dora Kontha CPR: 220687-3534

Table of contents Chapter 1 - Introduction

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Chapter 4 - digital solution

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1.1. Executive Summary 1.2. Introduction 1.3. Problem Area 1.4. Problem Formulation 1.5. Client Goal

01 01 02 02 02

4.1. Brand Identity 4.2. Sitemap & Wireframes 4.3. Design

26 29 31

Chapter 5 - Conclusion

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5.1. Final Conclusion 5.2. Future Possibilites

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Chapter 6 - Literature list

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Chapter 7 - Appendix

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7.1. Appendix 1 Think Aloud Test 7.2. Appendix 2 Survey 7.3. Appendix 3 Interview 7.4. Appendix 4 Competitor Analysis Table

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Chapter 2 - Research & Analysis 03 2.1. Methodology

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2.2. Internal Analysis 2.2.1. Cultural Analysis 2.2.2. Website Analysis 2.2.3. User research

04 04 05 08

2.3. External Analysis 2.3.1. PESTLE analysis 2.3.2. Competitor Analysis 2.3.3. STP 2.3.4. SWOT and TOWS

11 11 12 13 15

Chapter 3 - Concept

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3.1. Idea generation 3.2. Concept Description 3.3. Launch Plan 3.4. Budget 3.5. Project Management Breakdown

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Teodor Voicilă CPR: 050492-3363

chapter

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1.1. Executive Summary

According to the PESTLE analysis, the environment for canoe and kayak clubs is very positive and the popularity of the sport is growing.2 As Lyngby Kanoklub’s goal is to expand and significantly increase the membership numbers, various user research methods were conducted in order to discover the user needs, opinions and expectations. Furthermore, with the help of 1 2

Lyngby Kanoklub site: http://www.lyngby-kanoklub.dk/ [accessed 23.05.15] DKF site: http://kano-kajak.org/om-dkf/historie/ [accessed 23.05.15]

mandatory internships inspired us in many ways and helped to find the topic for our Bachelor project. Teodor did his internship at Wiredelta, a web development agency, as a project manager. He worked closely with developers and clients and undertook various user experience projects. Dora’s internship took place at Vertic, an international digital advertising agency based in Copenhagen; her main focus areas were digital design and user experience.

Our diverse competences and skills combined with a passion for user experience served as inspiration for choosing a company where there was a great possibility to improve both usability and visual identity.

Lyngby Kanoklub was selected as the local organization for our bachelor project since we both enjoy outdoor activities such as water sports. Furthermore, we were interested in supporting a local club that could act as a motivator for a healthy lifestyle and exercising while having fun at the same time.

By helping Lyngby Kanoklub rethink its communication strategy and renew its brand identity, the goal was to increase the demand for the club, so more and more people can enjoy the advantages of being outside, in the nature.

introduction Lyngby Kanoklub was founded in 1937 and its mission is to be among the leading clubs in Denmark. Currently, the voluntary-based club has 600 members, who can unlimitedly use canoes, kayaks and other facilities including gym, kitchen and sauna.1

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PESTLE, Competitor Analysis, STP, SWOT and TOWS an in-depth research was made in order to base our concept on valid and thorough analysis.

The concept for Lyngby Kanoklub consists of a new website, an improved brand identity, an online marketing and communication strategy, three social media competition suggestions and an outdoor event. The solution is meant to raise awareness and attract new members through both online and offline channels.

1.2. Introduction Our chosen subjects at E-Concept Development course at KEA and the

1.3. Problem Area According to the Danish Kayak and Canoe Federation (DFK), in the last 15 years, the popularity of canoe and kayak sports have enormously increased.

For instance, while in the late 1960’s DFK had 6000-7000 members, they currently have more than 20.000.3 Lyngby Kanoklub is also part of DFK and with its 600 members, the club is a real proof that canoe and kayak sports are popular in the Lyngby area.

Lyngby Kanoklub is a voluntary-based canoe and kayak club located at Lyngby Lake, found in 1937. The members

of Lyngby Kanoklub can use the club’s kayaks, canoes, other facilities - gym and sauna; the building is also a place for more than 200 private canoes and kayaks.4 Lyngby Kanoklub strives to maintain a high activity level and its goal is to be among the leading clubs in Denmark.5 To achieve this goal, the club is considering expansion of the target group by increasing the number of new members and decreasing the dropout rate.

At the time of writing this thesis, Lyngby Kanoklub had 550 active and 50 passive members. According to club director Thomas Gjerlufsen, keeping and engaging existing members is the biggest challenge the club has to face.6

1.4. Problem formulation Main question: How to raise Lyngby Kanoklub’s awareness in order to attract new members, while keeping the current ones engaged?

Sub-questions: - What is the customer behaviour in Denmark concerning joining canoe clubs?

- What are the values of Lyngby Kanoklub, and could they be used in our solution?

- Would improving Lyngby Kanoklub visual identity help them to get new members?

- Can the strategic use of social media help the growth of Lyngby Kanoklub?

1.5. Client Goal Lyngby Kanoklub aims to improve its brand identity and online presence by creating a new website and communication strategy that helps them gain 4 5

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DKF site: http://kano-kajak.org/om-dkf/historie/ [accessed 23.05.15]

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Lyngby Kanoklub site: http://www.lyngby-kanoklub.dk/ [accessed 23.05.15] Lyngby Kanoklub site: http://www.lyngby-kanoklub.dk/ [accessed23.05.15] Interview with Thomas Gjerlufsen. It can be found in the Appendix.

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new members and engage the existing ones. As previously mentioned, the club currently has 550 active and 50 passive members and its goal is to in-

crease the active members by 25-50% in two years’ time. The club’s target audience is very broad - people aged between 10 and 85 years old.

chapter

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Research & Analysis 2.1. Methodology Cultural Analysis

Website Analysis

The Cultural Analysis is a great tool to collect data as well as understand and map trends, influences and effects by analyzing various elements that form the culture of a company. According to Edgar Schein, there are three levels (Artifacts and Symbols, Espoused values, Assumptions) in an organization culture that needs to be examined.7

Website Analysis combined with the 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design aims to gather in-depth information about the website of Lyngby Kanoklub including structure, content, user experience, navigation, consistency and interactive elements. This is done to get a precise knowledge about the current user interface of a company and also to identify problems and possible improvements.8

Organizational culture model (Schein): http://www.toolshero.com/ organizational-culture-model-schein/[accessed 23.05.15]

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UI is Communication by Everett N McKay (June 2013), Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics

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Think Aloud Test Think Aloud test is a direct observation method of usability testing and it involves having participants to think out loud as they perform various tasks.

During this process, it is essential that users say aloud what they are doing, thinking, feeling or looking at. This test is a great way of getting straightforward opinions from the people who see a digital solution for the very first time.9

Quantitative Research Online Surveys The purpose of the quantitative research is to get to know the target audience and ask them about their opinions in a structured way in order to gather facts that can help the research in many ways. Asking very specific, narrow questions and gather a lot of data is necessary to gain a general understanding of people’s behavior, expectations, needs, underlying reasons and motivations.10

Competitor Analysis By making the competitor analysis of Lyngby Kanoklub, the main goal is to identify the local competitors and evaluate their strategies. The Competitor Analysis includes the company’s competitors, the competitor product or service summaries, the strengths and weaknesses of the competitor, the different strategies used by each competitor to achieve their objectives and the market outlook.11

TLE analysis examines the political, economic, sociocultural, technological, legal and environmental aspects of the external environment.12 The analysis will help to find the opportunities and threats that might affect the company.

STP STP (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning) is a three stage process. With this tool it is possible to determine what kinds of customers that have different needs exist, select the customer markets and develop a marketing mix for each selected segments for Lyngby Kanoklub. Each segment has different needs and will respond to different marketing strategy.13

SWOT & TOWS In order to understand the internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats, a SWOT analysis is used. This method is a very efficient way to explore possibilities for new solutions to problems.

TOWS analysis aims to find new ways through which the company can take advantage of opportunities and minimize threats.14

2.2. Internal Analysis 2.2.1. Cultural Analysis

PESTLE analysis helps to study the watersport industry in Denmark and understand Lyngby Kanoklub position in the Danish market. The PES-

Edgar Schein divided organizational culture into three levels, which are artifacts and behaviours, espoused values, and assumptions. Artifacts and behaviours are the visible elements of an organization, for instance dress code, furniture or logos. Espoused values include the values, rules of behaviour and standards of an organization, while assumptions are deeply hidden and hard to recognize, for example

Designing for usability-key principles and what designers think by John D. Gould, Clayton Lewis (March 1985) British Library, Researching markets, Qualitative and Quantitative Research: http://www.bl.uk/bipc/resmark/qualquantresearch/qualquantresearch.html [accessed 23.05.15] 11 Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods By Craig S. Fleisher, Babette E. Bensoussan (December 2014)

PESTLE Analysis: http://pestleanalysis.com/what-is-pestle-analysis/ [accessed 23.05.15] The STP model: http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/customer-segmentation-targeting/segmentation-targeting-positioningmodel/ [accessed 23.05.2015] 14 SWOT & TOWS http://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-betweenswot-tows-analysis-23169.html [accessed 23.05.2015]

PESTLE analysis

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unconscious behaviours. The reason behind choosing Cultural analysis is to examine the first two elements that forms the culture of Lyngby Kanoklub in order to get a deeper understanding of its structure and values.

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Artifacts and Behaviours Lyngby Kanoklub is located in Kongens Lyngby at Rustenborgvej 19, right next to the Lyngby Lake. The environment is idyllic, calm and very positive.

Plenty of people run or walk around the lake, many families spend time together, while others bike or have a drink on the pier. This area is also very popular among tourists as with Baadfarten it is possible to row around on Lyngby Lake and Bagsværd Lake with a boat and visit places like Sophienholm or Aldershvile.

Lyngby Kanoklub is well-equipped, it has a kitchen, gym, sauna and more than 100 kayaks and canoes, which are of course available to the members. The organization also launched a magazine called Paddle, and it has been a great way to communicate and share the news with members about eightten times per a year.16 The visual identity of Lyngby Kanoklub is not consistent at all, the website relies heavily on text and the pictures are low-quality and unappealing, leaving the user with an unclear, messy and outdated impression. An in-depth analysis of the website can be found in the Website Analysis section.

Espoused Values Lyngby Kanoklub has a long history that goes back to 1937, when the club was founded by a few nature lovers.

Environment plays a huge role in the club’s life as the whole area is connected to nature.17 The aim of the club is to focus more o 15 Organizational culture model (Schein): http://www.toolshero.com/organizational-culture-model-schein/ [accessed 23.05.2015] 16 Lyngby Kanoklub website: http://www.lyngby-kanoklub.dk/ [accessed 23.05.15] 17 Lyngby Kanoklub website: http://www.lyngby-kanoklub.dk/ [accessed 23.05.15]

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n quality and be among the top canoe clubs in Denmark. With the service they provide, Lyngby Kanoklub wants to make sure that they satisfy its members’ needs on every level.18 All the instructors, trainers and board members of the organization are volunteers. Over the years, Lyngby Kanoklub has organized a large number of national and international competitions and championships and the massive voluntary effort by the collaboration of club members has been an important condition for the implementation of these activities.19 Because the club consists of enthusiastic volunteer coaches and instructors, Lyngby Kanoklub has an extremely strong local community. Volunteers know each other for many years and all the different programmes, like Barbecue Wednesdays, make the whole team even more convergent.20 Sub conclusion Lyngby Kanoklub has a very positive atmosphere and many different values like long history, nature, quality, collaboration and strong local community.

These values can make the club attractive for new members, as these values create the feeling of a good time, having fun, being part of something cool, doing sports and being in nature. As these values would draw attention and create interest in joining Lyngby Kanoklub, it is essential to reflect them in the brand identity.

2.2.2. Website Analysis In order to get a clear understanding of Lyngby Kanoklub’s visual identity and online presence, a thorough analysis of its official website was very needed. The user experience of a website represents an important image factor, it is what makes the visitors loyal and satisfied of their brand. The more user friendly a website is, the easier it is for 18 Interview with Thomas Gjerlufsen. It can be found in the Appendix.

19 Lyngby Kanoklub website: http://www.lyngby-kanoklub.dk/ [accessed 23.05.15] 20 Interview with Thomas Gjerlufsen. It can be found in the Appendix.

people to find the information they are looking for and thus come back for more.

This analysis was also based on Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics which helped us get a deeper knowledge of the actual user interface design.21 1. Visibility of system status The system should strive to keep users informed about what is going on through appropriate feedback within reasonable timeframe. On Lyngby Kanoklub’s website there is no sign up option or upload function, which suggests that the website is lacking 21 Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics: http://www.designprinciplesftw. com/collections/10-usability-heuristics-for-user-interface-design [accessed 23.05.15]

user interactivity. Furthermore, the 18 separate menu items on the left make it easy for the user to get lost. After clicking on any of the menu items, the user receives no indication as to what page they are currently navigating on.

2. Match between system and the real world There are too many links for various pages where all the information is crammed in huge chunks of text or links to other PDFs. Users must have time and patience at their disposal to the information they were looking for.

The website lacks a clear vision of what the club wants to sell and offer to

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members.

Beside the online monthly magazine, Padlen, and the poor News section, no other online communication tool that could enhance the awareness and keep the members updated was found.

There isn’t any social media integration and they do not make use of the popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or Youtube, which could be beneficial to any small or big business.22 3. User control and freedom There is no visible “Home” button.

The user can easily get lost between the multiple pages and the easiest way to go back is by using the web browser functions.

4. Consistency and standards The website lacks a proper consistency.

There are too many types of fonts and ways of alignment. The content is in many places chaotic, mixing bold, underlined links and italic fonts sometimes even in the same sentence. The website is filled with poor quality pictures and animations.

5. Error prevention The website of Lyngby Kanoklub is static and the only updated sections are the news and annual events schedule.

The club does not have any kind of notification or suggestion that is presented for the visitors as there is no place on the page when it would be possible to type in a keyword or submit information.

6. Recognition rather than recall The goal of a website should be to minimize users’ memory load and make various options and objects visible. The site of Lyngby Kanoklub is overloaded with many different information that create confusion.

7. Flexibility and efficiency of use The menu is heavy and there are no shortcuts to cut to the previous page or Social media for businesses: http://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-forbusiness/ [accessed 23.05.15] 22

“Home”. The site is lacking mobile responsiveness, a crucial factor in today’s web browsing habits.23 There are many inefficient solutions on the website, for instance the British and German flags from the homepage could confuse the users into believing that the website is translated in German and English. In fact, those are just another set of links that lead to a short translated contact message.

8. Aesthetic and minimalist design The basic structure is made out of a static header, a side menu, and a dynamic panel that displays the corresponding content of the side links. It is as simple and rudimentary as a wireframe. Lyngby Kanoklub already has a logo but it doesn’t stand out in any way.

The placing of the two silhouettes on the orange background makes it hard to recognize the icons, even from a close distance.

9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors Error messages should provide immediate feedback with specific instructions. On Lyngby Kanolub’s website, no errors were spotted.

10. Help and documentation There isn’t any “Help” or “FAQ” section, but there is a lot of documentation which in many cases is chaotic and confusing to the user.

Sub conclusion The overall impression is that Lyngby Kanoklub’s website is stuck far behind the current web standards and designs of a modern website. It lacks consistency and structure, it confuses the user, it is not properly updated, the information is crowded, which all lead to bad user experience. The website is unresponsive, there are no social media plugins and the club’s brand identity is not clearly communicated.

23 Importance of Responsive Design: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ john-rampton/business-mobile-responsive-design_b_5267077.html [accessed 23.05.15]

2.2.3. User Research

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Think Aloud Test24 The aim of Think Aloud Test is to encourage users to think out loud as they use a product or service. When the users are sharing their thoughts, opinions and difficulties while completing various tasks, it becomes easy to identify user experience problems that visitors face day by day. Although conducting Think Aloud Test creates an unnatural environment for the users where they have to record themselves and keep talking honestly about a digital solution, it is a cheap and efficient way of finding out the problematic touch points of a given website.25 The reason behind conducting Think Aloud Test Think Aloud Test results can be found in the Appendix.

25 The Think Aloud method http://deal.elte.hu/pages/novelty/htm2/vol73/ elekes.htm [accessed 23.05.15] 24

is to discover usability problems and receive direct, straightforward opinions from the users.

The four participants were asked to download a screen recorder on their computer, print out a PDF document with all the questions and tasks we made and record the answers. Although, Think Aloud Tests require to complete different assignments, we

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decided to mix it a bit with qualitative research in order to ask some specific questions regarding impressions, layout, logo and navigation of the current Lyngby Kanoklub website.

Completing tasks All the participants had trouble finding out both the membership price and the programme of CPH Spring Regatta 2015 quickly. They were all looking around on the website, scrolling up and down and clicking on different menus until they managed to get the correct data. It took them quite a long time and this is a serious user experience issue.

These are essential information to find for all the visitors who are about to join Lyngby Kanoklub or would like to attend an event so the user journey must be fast, easy and flawless.

Opinion about the visuals The first of impressions of the Lyngby Kanoklub website were actually really negative for the test users. The participants all agreed that it did not look neither good nor professional, it’s outdated and it’s difficult to find out what it is about. They were also asked to describe the website with three words and these were the answers: messy, confusing, empty, very orange, unmanageable, ugly, outdated and boring. All of the participants had trouble navigating the website as there is a lot of menus and information is all over the place. It was clear to see that sometimes they felt lost, while they were clicking on the different parts of the site.

The opinions about Lyngby Kanoklub logo were a bit more diverse. One participant said that it was fine but hard to see, while another respondent did not like it at all. Two participants said that the silhouettes with the orange color on an orange background did not really work and the font was not very interesting.

All the participants understood the provided services of Lyngby Kanoklub

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and to whom they were addressed, but it took them a while to figure that out.

When they were asked what they would change on the website, these were the answers: “Make the menu less confusing, a new front page, less text, shrink it down, make less menus and focus only on some of them, more pictures, usage of more naturalistic and calm colors like blue or green.” One of the users was very straightforward in explaining what should be changed: “Everything.

The content, the UX, the design and definitely also the logo.”

while it turned out that most of them have a full-time job (53.4%) but many students also filled out the questionnaire (34.2%). The majority, 90.4% is currently a member of a canoe club.

When choosing a canoe club, location (52.7%) turned out to be the most important factor for the participants. .

Sub Conclusion The Think Aloud test provided some honest and straightforward opinions and it made it obvious that Lyngby Kanoklub has some serious issues with its current visual appearance, website and especially with usability. The participants of the user test were not just unsatisfied with the design of the website but also with the navigation and user experience, as it was difficult for them to find the information they were looking for. Improving Lyngby Kanoklub user experience and visual identity would definitely help to make the users satisfied, interested and more engaged to the club.

User research Survey 1.

In order to understand and analyse the user behaviour regarding canoe and kayak club memberships in the Danish market, it was essential to conduct a quantitative survey. Our focus was on the target group’s general behaviour, needs, expectation, motivation and opinion to get an overview about who they really are.

Our survey was posted on different kayak and canoe related Facebook groups and we managed to get a relatively high number of responses as the total number of participants were 146. The age and the gender of the participants are more or less balanced,

19.2% claimed that, they are canoeing or kayaking every single day, while 63% said, that they are canoeing or kayaking every week and this means that there is a very high engagement towards this sport.

More than half of the attendants (51.4%) would be interested in getting updates via social media regarding canoe news and events and 71.2% would like to receive weekly or monthly newsletters from their club about updates, upcoming events and interviews with members. A high number of participants (71.2%) claimed that they would use a mobile app to interact with their club. Social media is deeply ingrained in the lives of many participants, as 72.6% are checking their social media account a couple of times per day and 19.9% are checking them weekly.26

Sub conclusion The survey provided important information about canoe club members’

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The survey can be found in the Appendix.

needs, expectations and related opinions in Denmark. With the help of the survey, we could manage to receive many relevant findings, one of them being, that location is the most important factor when it comes to joining a canoe club, so this is the reason why we will concentrate only on Lyngby area when making the Competitor Analysis. Another relevant finding is that the majority of the participants claimed that they would like to get updates via social media and use a mobile app to interact with their club. It means that there is a significant need to get updates via social media, so the strategic use of different digital communication platforms could be the key to decrease dropout rate and keep the members engaged.

Survey 2 As stated in the Client Goal, Lyngby Kanoklub wants to decrease the member dropout number while keeping the current ones engaged. In order to get to know the Lyngby Kanoklub members’ opinions and needs, it was necessary to conduct another survey.

All in all, 15 people answered the questions, all of them are Lyngby Kanoklub members. 57.1% said that location was the most important reason why they chose the club and they also claimed that they are very active - most of them are kayaking or canoeing every week.

Although 92.3% are satisfied with the service of Lyngby Kanoklub, most of them very rarely or never visit the club’s website.

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The respondents’ opinions about Lyngby Kanoklub’s website are very diverse and predominantly negative.

No-one gave maximum points and the participants were obviously not pleased with the web design.

76.9% of the participants answered, that they would be interested in getting updates via social media and receiving weekly or monthly newsletters about different topics that are related to Lyngby Kanoklub. 83.3% would be also interested in a mobile application that would be connected to the club and it also turned out that the participants are active social media users, more than half of them are checking their social media accounts several times a day.

Sub conclusion The result of the survey is very similar to the previous one and it became obvious that the current members of Lyngby Kanoklub are unsatisfied with the current website and they are very open to new digital solutions and updates. This fact opens up many different ways and opportunities to make the members more engaged to the club with the help of social media and technology.

2.3. External Analysis 2.3.1. PESTLE analysis PESTLE helps to get a better overview of the macro-environment in which Lyngby Kanoklub activates. By looking

into the political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental factors it should be much clear if the club is facing any risks or opportunities that could affect the business.

Political The strong sports club system is supported with subsidies from the local municipalities. The Danish club model is built on voluntary work, openness and joint responsibility. The Ministry of Culture is the ministry responsible for sport, because in Denmark both elite and recreational sports are considered to be important parts of the cultural picture.27 Economic After the global economical crisis, Denmark’s economy is getting back up. The GDP28 is expected to grow by 1.7% in 2015 and 2.1% in 2016. Since 2013 the employment increased by 0.8%, while the unemployment rate is expected to stay stable for the next two years around 6.4%.29 The inflation is low at the moment, achieving an annual growth rate of -0.3 this year in January. It is projected to improve even more by 2016. Otherwise, Denmark’s small and open economy is directly dependant on the economic situation of it trading partners.30 Social When it comes to sports, Denmark takes this issue very serious. Three out of four children and adolescents and around half of the adult population does sport regularly.31 The strength of the Danish sports branch lies in the many clubs and associations (more than 14.00032) that play an impor27 Denmark.dk: http://denmark.dk/en/lifestyle/sport/sports-for-everyone/ [accessed 23.05.15] 28 Gross Domestic Product 29 Country report Denmark 2015 - http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/ csr2015/cr2015_denmark_en.pdf [accessed 23.05.15] 30 Country report Denmark 2015 - http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pd csr2015/cr2015_denmark_en.pdf [accessed 23.05.15] 31 Denmark.dk: http://denmark.dk/en/lifestyle/sport/sports-for-everyone/[accessed 23.05.2015] 32 Denmark.dk: http://denmark.dk/en/lifestyle/sport/sports-for-everyone/ [accessed 23.05.2015]

tant role in raising successful young sportsmen.

As stated in the Problem Area, The Danish kayak and canoe clubs have recently experienced a tremendous growth in members and popularity.

During the 1960s there were about 6000-7000 members, but in the last 15 years the Danish Kayak Federation have enlisted more than 20.000 members.33 The wide range of members’ age, from 10 - 85 years old34, and the variety of activities that the clubs offer are also important factors that made this sport so popular.

Technological The main technological factor that is involved in the kayaking and canoeing activity is represented on the Internet and the means of digital communication.

Most of the clubs have their own websites35 through which they try to keep their members updated and well informed. Some of the clubs are also using Social Media, for example Facebook, as a tool for communicating with the members.

Legal The Danish Canoe and Kayak Federation (DKF) is the main organization for the canoe and kayak sport in Denmark. Its purpose is to work for the canoe and kayak communities and all the clubs are following DKF’s laws and regulations36.

Environmental An important part of the Danish Canoe and Kayak Federation and their clubs’ work is characterized by natural and environmental awareness37. DKF is environmentally certified by the The Danish Kayak Federation website: http://kano-kajak.org/om-dkf/ historie/ [accessed 23.05.2015] Interview with Lyngby Kanoklub’s director. It can be found the Appendix 35 Kajak and Canoe clubs’ websites: http://kano-kajak.org/find-klubber/ [accessed 23.05.2015] 36 DKF’s Laws and Regulations: https://drive.google.com/file/ d/0B5Th2dgO_KvfUEpWQXVCaEE4cHVPV0E5WDQyMEVEVGp2ZmJJ/edit [accessed 23.05.2015] 37 DKF’s website: http://kano-kajak.org/om-dkf/ [accessed 23.05.2015] 33 34

DIF38 (The National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark). This means that their work and events promote the environmental awareness and the clubs are advised on becoming greener.

Sub-conclusion Based on the conducted PESTLE factor analysis, we can conclude that the kayak and canoe businesses have a favorable macro environment. The Danish government and cultural beliefs support the sport clubs and sports businesses with subsidies, while the popularity of kayaking and canoeing is constantly growing. The environmental and social factors could be seen as opportunities, due to the club’s support for a healthy life and its events that build a strong and supportive community. The technological factor with the use of online communication tools could affect Lyngby Kanoklub’s image if the social media and its website aren’t used at its full potential. The overall country’s economic situation is directly dependant to the club’s well being just like any other business. Luckily, the official predictions don’t raise any major uncertainties for the near future.

2.3.2. Competitor Analysis39 The competitor analysis focuses on the kayak and canoe clubs that are located in Lyngby area. This decision was based on our quantitative research that showed that more than half of the people who are members of kayak or canoe clubs have chosen their clubs due to the location.40 The other important factor was to examine the service the competitors offer and we decided to focus only on the clubs who provide exactly the same service as Lyngby Kanoklub. It turned out that the main competitors are Gladsaxe Kano & Kajakklub, Kanoklubben PUST, Nybro-Furå Kano- & Kajakklub and Klampenborg Kajak og Kanoklub.

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DKF’s website: http://kano-kajak.org/om-dkf/ [accessed 23.05.2015] Competitor ANalysis table - It can be found in the Appendix Quantitative research survey - It can be found in the Appendix

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According to the findings that are presented in the Appendix in the Competitor Analysis table, all of Lyngby Kanoklub’s main competitors’ membership price varies from 950 DKK to 1800 DKK for a year. The most expensive club is Gladsaxe Kano & Kajakklub, while the least expensive is Klampenborg Kajak og Kanoklub. Nybro-Furå Kano & Kajakklub has the most members, around 600, while Kanoklubben PUST has only 80. All of the main competitors are using images in the website, but most of them are low quality. The clubs have Facebook groups which enable them to communicate with their members and share information with them anytime. Furthermore, all of them are the part of the official Danish Canoe and Kayak Federation, they all have an updated website and some of them are also using newsletters, weather updates and calendars in order to inform their members.

Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics - on a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest grade.43 Gladsaxe Kano & Kajakklub and Nybro-Furå Kano- & Kajakklub got 3 points, while Kanoklubben PUST an Klampenborg Kajak og Kanoklub received only 2 points.

Websites and online presence in general can boost up any business’ awareness and build customer relationships.41 A strong online presence can help a business gain more visibility, collect information about the visitors’ behaviour or keep their customers updated.42 These were some of the reasons that made us analyze the local clubs’ websites and see how they are doing in terms of UX/UI, social media integration, updates and important information.

The competitor analysis showed that there is an existing tendency for the local canoe and kayak clubs not to care about communicating with their members by using an optimized online solution or other social media networks.

The websites’ user interface is outdated, there is no focus on using good quality images and the information is hard to find. Although the main competitors are still in an advantaged position in terms of visual appearance, communication and features such as newsletters, weather updates or calendars.

Our analysis helped us realize that Lyngby Kanoklub is not the only club that doesn’t invest time and money in a decent online solution. The overall impression is that most of the websites offer a bad user experience and they all look old-fashioned, hardly updated and they make very little use of the social media and good quality images. It also felt really hard to look for specific information like the number of members or the yearly price. We’ve decided to give grades for UX/UI according to 41 Web Marketing for Small Business: 7 Steps to Explosive Business Growth

by Stephanie Diamond, Chapter 6 - Your new social media website (May 2008) 42 Web Marketing for Small Business: 7 Steps to Explosive Business Growth

by Stephanie Diamond, Chapter 6 - Your new social media website (May 2008)

We will keep an eye on Nybro-Furå Kano- & Kajakklub, as they seem to be the direct competitor of Lyngby Kanoklub taking in consideration the number of members, prices and the provided services. They are doing much better than Lyngby Kanoklub in terms of online presence and communication. They make use of social media and constantly interact with their fans online. Nybro-Furå is definitely doing something well and we should learn from it and improve our club’s strategy.

Sub-conclusion

2.3.3. STP With the help of Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP), the main goal is to recognize particular segments of the target group and identify Lyngby Kanoklub’s position on the market. By focusing on specific segments of the target group, a concept solution will be developed, that will create awareness 43 Jakob Nielsen’s Heuristics: http://www.designprinciplesftw.com/ collections/10-usability-heuristics-for-user-interface-design [accessed 23.05.15]

for them and keep both the current and new members engaged.

- Segmentation Demographic Lyngby Kanoklub’s main segment are customers of both genders, without age limitation, who are interested in canoeing or kayaking. This includes, students, families, senior citizens and singles with various income. It is a mandatory requirement for all members to have a swimming certificate.

Psychographic Being a volunteer-based water sport company, Lyngby Kanoklub tries to approach people who are interested in sports, nature and love spending their time outdoors. The community aspect is also an important factor of Lyngby Kanoklub, as it creates the opportunity for members to socialize, meet new people, participate in different programmes and enjoy some time together. The main segment are people who want to have a great and memorable experience while having fun; love being outdoors, exploring the nature and doing sports.

Geography People living in Lyngby area are the main target for Lyngby Kanoklub, as location is the most important factor for individuals when choosing a club.44 - Targeting According to Thomas Gjerlufsen, the Director of the Lyngby Kanoklub, the club has three main groups of members: students, families with kids, and senior citizens. Their ages range from 10-85 years old.

Being such a broad age segment, we have decided to focus our attention on the most active groups. After analyzing 44

Survey 1 which can be found in the Appendix

the two conducted surveys it became clear that the most active people, who are also members of a club, are divided into two segments: 15-25 and 35-50 years old.45 Primary target group represents the teenagers and the young students (1525 years old.). They are known to have a lot of free time, less responsibilities and live an active life.46 Secondary target group (35-50 years old) is made out of mature and settled-down people, who already have stable full time jobs and most of them are married with kids.47 - Positioning

Positioning map After segmenting the market and choosing the target groups, a positioning map was required in order to get an overview of each competitor’s position within the market. In our case, the canoeing and kayaking clubs from the Lyngby area represent the competitors.

The two factors used to define the map are the price and the number of members. As it can be seen in the graph, Lyngby Kanoklub and NybroFurå Kano & Kajakklub have the most 45

Survey 1 and 2 which can be found in the Appendix

46 Denmark Society & Culture Complete Report by World Trade Press, January 2010 edition.

47

Survey 1 and 2 from the Appendix.

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members. This fact was already known from the competitor analysis. What is interesting in this case is that it is visible from the graph how Nybro-FurĂĽ Kano & Kajakklub is able to make more money even though the membership price is higher.

Another finding would be that a lower price does not necessarily bring more members to a club. This can be seen from the Klampenborg Kajak og Kanoklub and Kanoklubben Pust’s positions.

Sub-conclusion Although Lyngby Kanoklub is a wellestablished and recognized club, Nybro-FurĂĽ Kano & Kajakklub has a better position in the market but the difference is not major. For the concept development section, it is essential to take into consideration the two main active targets of the club (15-25 and 35-55) in order to develop a strategy that can make them more engaged towards Lyngby Kanoklub.

2.3.4. SWOT & TOWS SWOT analysis focuses on the internal and external environments of the company by examining the strengths and weaknesses (internal) and opportunities and threats (external). With the help of SWOT analysis, it is possible to explore possibilities to problems and identify where change is possible.

SWOT combined with TOWS makes it possible to determine a forward strategy for Lyngby Kanoklub.

S4: The club prefers quality over quantity and its goal is to satisfy its members by any means.48 According to Survey II., the club members are highly satisfied with the provided services of the club.

W1: The current website of Lyngby Kanoklub does not live up to the current web design standards and it makes an unpleasant impression on visitors, that can lead to uninterest and dropout.49

S1: As stated in the Cultural Analysis, Lyngby Kanoklub has a very strong community that can make the club even more attractive for people who want to socialize.

W2: Lyngby Kanoklub is lacking of communication strategy, that can make the club members well informed at any time and engaged to the club even more.50

S2: Lyngby Kanoklub is located in a peaceful area, close to Lyngby center and only 850 meters from Lyngby Station, which makes the club easily approachable.

W3: Not using social media in order to communicate with members creates advantage and better position for competitors, who use it on a regular basis.51

S3: As a volunteer-based club, Lyngby Kanoklub has dedicated, hard-working and friendly people who would like to make a difference.

W4: Limited budget means limited budget for concepts, projects and campaigns that they want to develop in the future.

O1: A well established and consistent visual identity helps the businesses in many ways for instance, it creates trust and differentiate themselves from other companies.52 O2: Lyngby area is a favourable area for many businesses because of high income.

O3: Raising popularity of kayak and canoe clubs in Denmark can lead to even more customers and members.53 T1: It can be a threat for Lyngby Kanoklub to differentiate itself from other clubs with very similar service, facilities and location.

Sub-conclusion

48 Lyngby Kanoklub website: http://www.lyngby-kanoklub.dk/ [accessed 23.05.15] 49 Think Aloud test. It can be found in the Appendix 50 Website Analysis 51 Competitor Analysis.

52 The Importance of branding your business: http://www.nytimes.com/ allbusiness/AB4019474_primary.html [accessed 23.05.15] 53 DFK website: http://kano-kajak.org/om-dkf/historie/ [accessed 23.05.15]

The SWOT analysis led us to a deeper understanding of the internal and external aspects of the club. The weaknesses of Lyngby Kanoklub are the outdated website, the inefficient communication with its members, the lack of social media use and the limited budget, while the threat is the very high competition. On the other hand, Lyngby Kanoklub has all the factors (location, equipments, many members, strong community) that could help them become the leading club in the Lyngby area, but they are in a desperate need for a strategy in order to be unique and stand out from the competitors.

TOWS The TOWS analysis will help us to get a better understanding of the strategic choices that Lyngby Kanoklub is facing. It is very important to make the most of the strengths, minimize the weaknesses, take advantage of the opportunities and manage the threats.

Sub-conclusion After the strategic options were developed, we could state that Lyngby Kanoklub definitely has some weaknesses that need to be minimized by taking advantage of the possible opportunities. Most of the solutions reach out to the local community, make better use of the volunteers or invest in better online communication. The above mentioned strategic options give us a different view of the business from a macro perspective and could help us choose one or more strategies for the future concept.

4. Conclusion Based on the conducted PESTLE analysis, we can conclude that the kayak and canoe businesses have a favorable macro environment and the Danish government and cultural beliefs support the sport clubs and sports businesses

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with subsidies, while the popularity of kayaking and canoeing is constantly growing.54 Our research and analysis showed that people in Denmark choose their canoe and kayak clubs depending on their location and they are very opened for various digital solutions and social media updates that are connected to their clubs.

After analyzing the two conducted surveys it became clear that the most active people, who are also members of a club, are divided into two segments: 15-25 and 35-50 years old.55 That is the reason behind to focus on these two target groups when creating the concept for the club.

Lyngby Kanoklub represents core val-

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ues, such as long history, nature, quality service, collaboration between members and a strong local community.56 The current Lyngby Kanoklub website does not make use of the mentioned values and it is outdated, making the visitors confused about what the club’s website stands for.57 As listed in the Competitor Analysis, Lyngby Kanoklub has many competitors with exactly the same service and the main challenge for Lyngby Kanoklub is to differentiate themselves.58 An outstanding visual identity could help Lyngby Kanoklub stand out from the other clubs and an improved online presence combined with a strategic communication would help to create engagement between the club and its members .

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54 55

PESTLE analysis Survey 1 and 2 which can be found in the Appendix

57 58

Cultural Analysis Think Aloud Test Competitor Analysis

chapter

3.

CONCEPT

3.1. Idea generation Brainstorming is one of the most exciting part of concept development as it lets the participants collect various ideas that can become a solution for an actual problem. Being unlimitedly creative, inspiring each other, discussing many different possibilities and communicating ideas visually is a very efficient process for finding the final concept for any complex problems.

For this project, brainstorming, making a mindmap and sketching down our ideas helped us being creative, organize our ideas and visualize our concepts.59

3.2. Concept Description Based on our findings from the research and analysis phase, it became very clear that Lyngby Kanoklub needed a fresh concept that could help 59 Generating Ideas Chapter from Undercover User Experience Design by Cennydd Bowles and James Box, New Riders, 2011 edition

them spread awareness and gain more members while keeping the old ones engaged in the club’s activity.

After a thorough brainstorming process, we decided to focus on both online and offline channels when developing the concept. The club needs a new brand identity, a new website and a lively online presence which includes a well defined online marketing strategy and two online competitions. In the end, we’ll attract the local community by involving them in a couple of social events. All of the above mentioned will be directly connected and developed for the two targets that have been chosen in the Targeting phase. It’s about time for Lyngby Kanoklub to step up its game and act like a modern sport business in order to become the leader in the canoe and kayak club market.

The whole concept breakdown can be found in the following sections.

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New brand identity with a new website As described in the analysis, Lyngby Kanoklub has an inconsistent visual identity and its website is outdated.60 The club’s values61 and tradition are not promoted well enough through its website, and the users get easily confused.62 The future website is an important piece of our concept as most of the members are not satisfied with the current one and they are open to new updates and improvements that could ease the communication process between them and the club.63 The new brand identity will include a new logo, new fonts and colours and all of these will reflect the actual values of the club. The new brand identity will make the club stand out in the local kayak and canoe community, as the new visuals will attract more new members and the new website will help the club to communicate its mission, and values easily and efficiently.

Based on the two conducted surveys, the kayak/canoe enthusiasts and club members expressed the need for updates regarding future events or communication via social media. Besides including these, the future website will be more straight forward, using high quality images and a smooth flow that will guide the user to easily find all the critical information. Satisfying the target groups’ needs is crucial and by creating a fresh, engaging and clean user interface, we will be able to create interest.

There will also be a newsletter signup option, a calendar with upcoming events, contact form and social media integration. The website will be responsive and it will give the user a cozy experience, similar to the one we found at the club’s hub when we visited them.

Website analysis 61 Cultural analysis 62 Think aloud test 63 Survey 2, which can be found in the Appendix 60

Online marketing strategy As it was proven in our website analysis and the second online survey, Lyngby Kanoklub does not have a defined online marketing strategy and it does not make use of any online tool that could easily boost up its awareness.

In order to bring more visitors on the website, and to help them get there faster, SEO and Google Analytics will be implemented. If the right keywords are inserted, SEO will help the new website rank higher in the Google searches and bring more visitors and possible members.64 The use of Google Analytics will help Lyngby Kanoklub understand better its audience. They will be able to see how many people visited the website, how much time they spent on each menu, where they were from and what they were looking for.65 Our solution aims to get in touch with the members and keep them updated in both a formal and a casual way. The surveys showed that people are both interested in newsletters and they use their social media accounts daily.

The members will be constantly updated, on a weekly basis, with newsletters sent to their personal emails. This includes short interviews with some of the members, news related to the club and the kayak/canoe community, updates regarding the future events, surveys and pictures from the previous events.

As for the social media part, the concept will make use of Facebook and Instagram. These are two of the most popular social media networks in Denmark.66 Facebook will be used for daily updates regarding the weather, events, ongoing activities and most importantly, to gather feedback and communicate with the members. On the other 64 What is SEO: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/SEO.html [accessed 23.05.15] 65 Google Analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/ce/mws/why/index. html [accessed 23.05.15] 66 Social Media in Denmark: http://www.thelocal.dk/20150123/danishmedia-trends-snapchat-instagram-facebook-twitter [accessed 23.05.15]

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hand, Instagram appeals more to the atmosphere and the visual aspect of the club and its community. Sometimes pictures are better than words and Lyngby Kanoklub should take advantage of the surrounding environment and also promote themselves through images.

Photo competition on Instagram and Facebook Using Facebook and Instagram, we would like to involve the members and the local kayak and canoe fans into an online photo competition. The scope of this competition is to raise awareness of the club across the two social media platforms and attract as many contestants as possible.

The Facebook and Instagram followers of the club will be invited to enter a 3-week photo competition. People can enter the contest by posting one or more photos that are related to kayaking or canoeing. In order to enter the competition, the posted photos should include the #LyngbyKanoKlub hashtag and the competitors need to like and follow the two pages. In the end, the photos with most likes will win prizes in the following order: first place will win a free yearly membership, while the second and third place will get kayaking/canoeing accessories such as seats, backrests, paddles or spraydecks.

Endomondo Competition The second type of competition we have planned for Lyngby Kanoklub will run via Endomondo67, the worldwide famous sports tracking mobile application. This way we integrate a bit of gamification68 into the club’s interaction with the people.

The club will create a kayaking event on Endomondo, with a specific track on the surrounding lakes, where all the kayak enthusiasts, members or not, can Endomondo: https://www.endomondo.com/about [accessed 23.05.15] 68 Gamification: http://mashable.com/category/gamification/ [accessed 23.05.15] 67

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participate. The contest will run for 4 weeks and by the end, the fastest contestants will win prizes similar to the ones in the photo competition.

Canoes on the street In order to raise awareness of the club via the offline channel, a couple of promotional canoes will be placed around Lyngby’s crowded areas, such as Lyngby Storcenter, Lyngby Station, DTU campus and of course near the club.

These places have been chosen due to the big number or people that transit these areas almost every day697071. Next to the canoes there will be drawn footsteps that will give directions saying how far Lyngby Kanoklub is from that specific canoe.

At the club, there will be a human tall frame in which the visitors can put their faces in and act like they’re part of the scene. The frame would make people take pictures and leave with a funny memory that they could share further with their friends.

Event The outdoor event will take place on Lyngby Lake shore, right next to the club’s hub. There will be a small stage with music, drinks and food stands and all the members will be welcome to bring their friends or families. It will be a social event that will raise interest and awareness of Lyngby Kanoklub. The event will be promoted via the club’s social media, newsletters and the exposed canoes around the city.

3.3. Launch Plan The launch plan of the new Lyngby Kanoklub concept stretches from the middle of June until the end of August. It will be a summer concept, but 69 DTU Årsrapport 2013 - 11190 enrolled students: http://emagstudio.win. dtu.dk/E-books/APK/AnnRep_web_2013/ [accessed 23.05.15] 70 Lyngby Station transiting passengers: http://www.ft.dk/samling/20081/ almdel/tru/spm/80/svar/582881/613845/index.htm? [accessed 23.05.15] 71 Lyngby Storcenter visitors: http://www.klepierre.com/en/centres/lyngbystorcenter/ [accessed 23.05.15]

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the benefits will be worth and noticeable in the long run.

We will begin with the website implementation and the social media accounts. Taking into consideration that

by June we will be done with the wireframes, the new brand identity and the visual designs, the first version of the promotional website could be done by July 1st. While the website will be implemented, there will be a landing page that will redirect the visitors to the club’s Facebook and Instagram social media accounts. This way, the members will stay updated by the time the

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new website is done.

From 19th July until 8th August the social media competitions from Facebook and Instagram will be held. The reason behind this period of time is to raise awareness of the club as much as possible before the outdoor event from the end of the summer.

The canoes will be placed around Lyngby during July and August. This way there will be enough time for all the locals to see them. In the DTU cam-

pus, there will only be canoes from the middle of August because that’s about the time students come back for a new semester.

The Endomondo competition will run from 1st to 29th August. At the end of the month, on 30th August, the winners of the competition will be awarded their prizes during the Sunday outdoor event.

3.4. Budget Website and online marketing. The total number of working days exclude the new brand identity, the wireframes and the designs which will be done by us until June. All future implementations and configurations will be done by freelance professionals such as a

front-end developer and online marketing expert.

Social media competitions and outdoor events. In order to make the most out of Lyngby Kanoklub social media potential, a freelance social media manager should be hired. The manager would be in charge of administrating the Instagram and Facebook accounts and interacting with the people online.

Future opportunities. These are some of the features and implementations that could help the club improve its online communication and increase its awareness even more. More details can be found in a separate Future Opportunities sections below.

3.5 Project Management Breakdown From the beginning, the project was structured and planned by using the QISH model.72 All the steps have been organized in a rigorous weekly schedule that helped us stay on track and have a proper understanding of the progress and the time left.

The project management breakdown is split in five phases, according to the ‘’Five-phase Project Management: A Practical Planning And Implementation Guide’’ book.73 Project initiation: Before choosing Lyngby Kanoklub, both of us have researched separately for possible clients and intriguing subjects. Furthermore, all decisions have been taken under mutual agreement and brainstorming was used to define the problem area and problem formulation, the methodology and the concept.

Project planning: The planning of the project has been done according to both of our schedules and time resources.

A weekly plan has been agreed upon, including regular face to face meetings and deadlines for different phases of the project. The tasks have been split in half but sometimes they’ve been delegated according to our skills and fields of expertise. Google Drive and Skype have been used for an efficient way of communication and working process.

QISH slides from the 1st semester 73 Five-phase Project Management: http://www.petronet.ir/documents/10180/2323250/5_phase_project_management [accessed 23.05.15] 72

Project execution: We have worked from home, school or during the weekly meetings. The schedule was flexible but the deadlines were always met in time.

Project monitoring and control: Both of the members have been constantly checking the project schedule with the pending tasks and the following steps that needed to be taken care of.

Project closure: At this point the project report, along with the research and the concept have been handed in to our coach and external examiner.

4. chapter

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Digital Solution 4.1. Brand Identity The new brand identity of Lyngby Kanoklub is coherent, unique, it reflects the club’s values and it will help them stand out from its competitors. The main components of a brand identity are the logo, the fonts, the colours and other various visual elements that could help the club communicate as a brand.

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Logo

club.

According to the 5 Principles Of Effective Logo Design, a logo always should be simple, memorable, timeless, versatile and appropriate.74 The new Lyngby Kanoklub logo aimed to be a bit unusual, memorable and have some kind of welcoming feeling in order to attract more future members for the

The Christopherhand Regular font with it’s handwritten forms create a friendly atmosphere, but at the same time it gives a modern feeling as well.

The letters are unique and it is really important as it expresses something fresh and interesting and gets the attention of the people right away. In order to keep the cleanness and simplicity of the logo, no additional graphical element was added.

74 Logo design: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/26/vital-tipsfor-effective-logo-design [accessed 23.05.15]

For the logo, a darker blue color (#12202d) was used, that is also part of the brand identity of Lyngby Kanoklub. Blue represents responsibility and calmness and it is also associated with water, which is obviously strongly connected to water sports.

The right usage of Lyngby Kanoklub logo is essential in order to maintain the consistency of the brand identity.

The logo can only exist in two colors; blue (#12202d) and white (#ffffff).

Using other colors is strictly prohibited, as it would make the brand identity inconsistent. Furthermore, it is extremely important to keep an empty space around the logo in order to let it breathe and make it dominant and outstanding.

Font The new typeface of Lyngby Kanoklub is Helvetica Neue Regular and Arial Bold. Helvetica Neue is one of the most famous and popular typefaces and it was designed by Max Mieding-

er.75 Arial was made in 1982 and it is one of the most widely used Sans-serif typeface.76 The reason behind choosing Helvetica Neue Regular and Arial Bold was that they give a symmetrical, professional, easy-to-read and modern impression.

The two chosen fonts differs in weight so they also allow to highlight different sections easily, such as navigation, headers and subheaders.

Colors The brand identity of Lyngby Kanoklub includes three primary and one secondary colors. As mentioned before, dark blue (#12202d) was chosen as this color represents stability and it is strongly connected to canoe and kayak sports. Green (#82b3ae) is the color of nature and it symbolizes calmness, growth and new beginnings. The white (#ffffff) harmonizes very well with the blue and green, moreover it stands for 75 Helvetice Neue font: https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/neuehelvetica/ [accessed 23.05.15] 76 Arial font: http://www.fonts.com/font/monotype/arial#product_top [accessed 23.05.15]

cleanness and simplicity. There is another color in the secondary color palette; a very light grey (#e7e4d8), that complements really well with the primary colors.

4.2. Sitemap & Wireframes A sitemap includes all the pages and subpages a website has. The first step of creating a website is to have the sitemap ready in order to get the knowledge of the main and local navigation.77 Wireframes have an essential role in the design process because it helps to give an overview of a website, show the functionalities and establish relationships between different elements. Connecting the site structure to its visual design is very important for both designers and developers.78 For the new Lyngby Kanoklub website it was a great help to make the wireframes and have ongoing discussions about it before starting the design process.

Axure link: http://ftguz3.axshare.com/#p=1_0_ home 77 Sitemap usability: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/site-map-usability/ [accsessed 23.05.15] 78 Wireframing: http://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/wireframing.html [accsessed 23.05.15]

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4.3. Web design The new brand identity served as a guide when creating the new web design for Lyngby Kanoklub. The overall goal was to make an easy to use, simple, clean and modern website, that can make the current members engaged to the club and create interest for the future members.

4.3.1. Home The Home page was built up by six modules, which are the six pages Home, News, About us, New members, Courses, Contact. They function as teaser modules for each subpage in order to create interest and show the overall content of the website.

The six teaser modules are divided by high-quality, beautiful images that have a strong impression on people as they show the atmosphere of the canoe and kayak sports, communicate very well the club’s possibilities and show the essence of the Lyngby Kanoklub. Not having text heavy pages means that the focus is on the smaller amount of text that stands out even more in order to deliver the message to the visitors.

The function of the small triangles between the teaser modules and the images is to connect the modules and also to help the users to scroll down until the bottom of the page.

As described in the Concept Description part, social media is going to be one of the most powerful tool for Lyngby Kanoklub to get in touch with its members. In order to make social media visible on the website, Facebook and Instagram icons were placed both in the header and footer. The icons are clickable and take the visitors to Lyngby Kanoklub’s Instagram or Facebook page.

4.3.2. News The News page consist of a calendar with all the past and future events that are related to Lyngby Kanoklub. All the events are marked with a green circle and by clicking on them they become visible in the right side, where it is possible to read a small description. The calendar is connected to Facebook and it makes possible for people to see who is going to attend an actual event.

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4.3.3. About Us The About us page includes all the relevant information about Lyngby Kanoklub including history, mission and the volunteer team. The history section gives detailed information about the club’s history, the mission section has all the goals that the club wants to achieve in the future, while the Who We Are section introduces the team with pictures and contact email addresses.

4.3.4. New Members The New members page includes two relevant pieces of information for future members: a short description of how to join Lyngby Kanoklub and the price list that is a downloadable PDF.

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4.3.5. Courses The Courses page shows all the information about upcoming courses for both beginners and experienced members. It also includes general descriptions, a timeline and a schedule. The third option gathers all the extreme events that can be interesting for the adventure lover club members, for instance racing and long trips.

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4.3.6. Contact The Contact page is a short page where it is also possible to get in touch with Lyngby Kanoklub without using email.

The contact form is very easy to use and it requires name, email address and phone number before sending a message to the club.

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chapter

5.

Conclusion 5.1 Final Conclusion Lyngby Kanoklub strives to maintain a high activity level and its goal is to be among the leading clubs in Denmark.79 To achieve this goal, the club is considering expansion of the target group by increasing the number of new members and decreasing the dropout rate.

During our in-depth research that included Cultural Analysis, Website Analysis, User research, External Analysis, PESTLE analysis, Competitor Analy79 Lyngby Kanoklub website: http://www.lyngby-kanoklub.dk/ [accessed 23.05.15]

sis, STP, SWOT and TOWS, we managed to answer all our sub-questions and get thorough and valid research results on which we based our concept and digital solution.

In order to achieve the client’s goal, the most important steps were to renew the club’s brand identity, redesign the website and build or discover platforms that enable club to communicate with its members efficiently. To make Lyngby Kanoklub more attractive for the

target audience, it was essential not to just present a visually appealing brand identity and a well-functioning website, but also to create a communication strategy that helps the members become more enthusiastic and involved with the help of different competitions and events related to Lyngby Kanoklub.

5.2 Future Possibilities After the proposed concept will be implemented, there are a couple of improvements and opportunities that Lyngby Kanoklub should consider.

1. Online booking system and membership payment - An online booking system for kayaks/canoes would help the members to have a better experience when reserving canoes or kayaks, while purchasing a membership online could help the club recruit members faster and increase revenues at the same time.

2. Multiple language for the website - As the first version will only be in Danish, in the future, a translation in

English would be useful. This would be an opportunity to attract international students or expats from the area.

3. iOS/Android mobile app - The two

conducted surveys have shown that people spend a lot of time browsing the internet using their mobile devices. They also liked the idea of having a mobile app that would keep them in contact with their club.

4.

Winter events - The off-season events could keep the members engaged during the cold months.

AdWords80 - The Google AdWords service would be the next step into improving the SEO and attracting new members and watersport enthusiasts.

All the above could help Lyngby Kanoklub communicate better with its members. Both online and offline activities are important and can keep the customers satisfied, while strengthening the community even more.

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Google AdWords: https://www.google.com/adwords/ [accsessed 23.05.15]

chapter

6.

Literature list 6.1 Books - UI is Communication by Everett N McKay (June 2013) - Designing for usability-key principles and what designers think by John D. Gould, Clayton Lewis (March 1985) - Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods by Craig S. Fleisher, Babette E. Bensoussan (December 2014) - Web Marketing for Small Business: 7 Steps to Explosive Business Growth

by Stephanie Diamond, Chapter 6 Your new social media website (May 2008) - Denmark Society & Culture Complete Report by World Trade Press, January 2010 edition - Generating Ideas Chapter from Undercover User Experience Design by Cennydd Bowles and James Box, New Riders, 2011 edition

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6.2 Web - Lyngby Kanoklub website: http:// www.lyngby-kanoklub.dk/ [accessed 23.05.15] - DKF website: http://kano-kajak. org/om-dkf/historie/ [accessed 23.05.15]

vol73/elekes.htm [accessed 23.05.15] - Denmark.dk: http://denmark.dk/ en/lifestyle/sport/sports-for-everyone/ [accessed 23.05.15] - Country report Denmark 2015 http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/ pdf/csr2015/cr2015_denmark_en.pdf [accessed 23.05.15]

- Organizational culture model (Schein): http://www.toolshero.com/ organizational-culture-model-schein/ [accessed 23.05.15]

- DKF’s Laws and Regulations: https://drive.google.com/file/ d/0B5Th2dgO_KvfUEpWQXVCaEE4cHVPV0E5WDQyMEVEVGp2ZmJJ/edit [accessed 23.05.2015]

- Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics: http://www.designprinciplesftw.com/ collections/10-usability-heuristicsfor-user-interface-design [accessed 23.05.15]

- Copenhagen - Northern suburns: http://wikitravel.org/en/Copenhagen/Northern_suburbs [accessed 23.05.15]

- British Library, Researching markets, Qualitative and Quantitative Research: http://www.bl.uk/bipc/resmark/qualquantresearch/qualquantresearch.html [accessed 23.05.15]

- Importance of Social Media for businesses: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/social-mediaimportant-business-2014-0773321 [accessed 23.05.15]

- PESTLE Analysis: http://pestleanalysis.com/what-is-pestle-analysis/ [accessed 23.05.15]

- The Importance of branding your business: http://www.nytimes.com/ allbusiness/AB4019474_primary.html [accessed 23.05.15]

- The STP model: http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/customer-segmentation-targeting/ segmentation-targeting-positioningmodel/ [accessed 23.05.2015]

- What is SEO: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/SEO.html [accessed 23.05.15]

- SWOT & TOWS http://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-betweenswot-tows-analysis-23169.html [accessed 23.05.2015] - Social media for businesses: http:// blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-forbusiness/ [accessed 23.05.15] - Importance of Responsive Design: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ john-rampton/business-mobileresponsive-design_b_5267077.html [accessed 23.05.15] - The Think Aloud method http:// deal.elte.hu/pages/novelty/htm2/

- Google Analytics: http://www. google.com/analytics/ce/mws/why/ index.html [accessed 23.05.15] - Social Media in Denmark: http:// www.thelocal.dk/20150123/danishmedia-trends-snapchat-instagramfacebook-twitter [accessed 23.05.15] - Endomondo: https://www.endomondo.com/about [accessed 23.05.15] - Gamification: http://mashable.com/ category/gamification/ [accessed 23.05.15] - DTU Årsrapport 2013 - 11190

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enrolled students: http://emagstudio. win.dtu.dk/E-books/APK/AnnRep_ web_2013/ [accessed 23.05.15] - Lyngby Station transiting passengers: http://www.ft.dk/samling/20081/almdel/tru/spm/80/ svar/582881/613845/index.htm? [accessed 23.05.15] - Lyngby Storcenter visitors: http:// www.klepierre.com/en/centres/lyngby-storcenter/ [accessed 23.05.15] Mailchimp: http://mailchimp.com/ [accessed 23.05.15] - Logo design: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/26/ vital-tips-for-effective-logo-design [accessed 23.05.15] - Helvetice Neue font: https://www. myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/neuehelvetica/ [accessed 23.05.15] Arial font: http://www.fonts.com/ font/monotype/arial#product_top [accessed 23.05.15]

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- Sitemap usability: http://www. nngroup.com/articles/site-map-usability/ [accsessed 23.05.15] - Wireframing: http://www.usability. gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/wireframing.html [accsessed 23.05.15] - Google AdWords: https://www. google.com/adwords/ [accsessed 23.05.15] - Five-phase Project Management: http://www.petronet.ir/documents/10180/2323250/5_phase_project_management [accessed 23.05.15]