Discover Douro

Comprising 19 municipalities full of history and value, the Douro exudes tourism potential. Therefore, CIM Douro wanted to move forward with a mobile application, that would work as a digital tour guide of the region.

Since our team already has previously develop some tourism apps, our experience allowed us to look at this challenge with a different point of view and ambitions, creating distinct features in order to differentiate and enhance the app. Both for the client and the user.

Meetings with the client are always our starting point. We take this time to write down and organize requirements, goals, and we take the opportunity to clarify any questions we might have. At the first meeting we create a document called the "specifications" that lists all the requirements and later we create the “detailed description document”. As the name implies, it is a document that fully describes the project. From end to end (mentioning the client contacts, the project owners, all the app’s features, etc).

The creation process starts by designing the skeleton of the app - building the wireframes. In the first phase the design is done in a simpler way, almost like a sketch. The so-called "low fidelity wireframe" is the first visual representation of a designer's idea. It is a way to ensure that programmers and customers clearly understand the functionality and design that the software has to support.

We often make a presentation of the wireframes in figma to the team or client, to brainstorm suggestions for improvement and make sure that what was designed is what was intended.

With the layout, all the elements of the wireframes, come to life. This time around we opted for a very minimalist and simple design, based on the colors, fonts, logo and other elements of the Discover Douro brand. In this design, we chose to use professional photographs of the landscapes and monuments of the region and let them speak for themselves. 

We focused on delivering a design with a strong user experience, easy to navigate and understand, considering the app will be used by a varied audience, both in terms of age group and nationalities.

The first step in the app is to create an account and its profile. Why is this relevant to mention? Because besides being a space where you can manage your personal information, it is where you should mention your tourist interests (wine tourism, nature, monuments, cultural, leisure, religious, etc.) so that the app can show you results that are more suitable for you.

Home is the space in the app dedicated to news. Here you will find information about upcoming events, news and useful notifications so you don't miss anything about what's happening in Douro.

Furthermore, you will be able to see points of interest near you, such as: museums, churches, restaurant suggestions and much more. You can also consult the list of categories of POIs or municipalities and explore them, as well as points of interest. You will also have a side menu with a wide range of information, such as travel tips, endogenous products, traditional dishes, flavors and knowledge. All the information to fully enjoy the Douro region!

Explore lists all the municipalities in Douro, telling the story of each one and presenting a list of suggestions for places to visit, itineraries to discover, and events taking place. Savor what the Douro has to offer. With the help of the filters you will find what you are looking for, in no time.

You can filter events and itineraries by your interests:

• Nature Tourism

• Wine tourism

• Leisure Tourism

• Religious Tourism

• Cultural Tourism

• Health and Wellbeing Tourism

• Sports Tourism

• Adventure Tourism

Places you can filter by:

• Douro passport

• What to visit

• Where to eat

• Where to sleep

• Where to have fun

• Support Services

When you open the detail of any point of interest you will access a brief description, the respective contacts, address and opening hours. You can also share a point of interest that you like in your networks or with your contacts and locate it on the app's map.

The D'ouro passport works as a kind of sticker book. The purpose of this passport is to invite tourists to stamp all the places available in the passport. With this initiative, the visits to the monuments will tend to increase, since the passport consists of a kind of game, in which tourists, in order to finish it and get the "final prize" - the certificate - they have to complete it.

It seems like a good tourism strategy, don't you agree?

In order to generate more ambition in obtaining new stamps, the app shows the user not only those stamps that he has already obtained, but all those that are yet to be obtained. The button "find nearby places" will help tourists in this mission, not allowing that any POI gets past them.

After completing the passport, you can share, on your social media and with your contacts, your achievement with everyone!

The map is used to venture out and explore the areas that interest you. As you explore it you will find points of interest, and just click on them to find out more information. You can also use the filter to analyze points of interest in a certain category, municipality or those that are part of the Douro passport.

Are you looking for routes and itineraries to join? The Discover Douro app has a list of unmissable suggestions. Search and filter your search according to your preferences. See the details of each itinerary: maximum number of people, duration (number of days) and kilometers, so you can choose wisely.

By opening the details of an itinerary, you will be able to read a description of it, tips, curiosities and access to the contacts. In addition, you can see the plans and duration of each day of the itinerary, as well as the points of interest associated with it.

If you find the ideal itinerary for you, you can download it, add it to your favourites or even share it with your contacts.

For this project we created a backoffice for our client to insert all the app contents and manage them. 

For the final customer, the Douro’s tourist, we created the mobile app, which will make the experience of getting to know the Douro region more complete with the numerous suggestions and information that it offers, and more fun with the activity of Douro’s Passaport.

Our client, with the creation of this digital tool, will support all tourists in their visit to the Douro region with valuable information and an enriching and captivating experience.