Bringing Brand Consistency to P&O Cruises Website Redesign

Role
UI Designer & Brand Advocate (Representing the Marketing Team)

Duration
2 months

Tools
Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, CSS, Collaboration Tools (e.g., Miro, Slack)

Teams Involved
Marketing Team: Safeguarding brand consistency and tone of voice.
Digital Team: Spearheading the website rehaul for improved functionality and modernisation.
External Agencies: Collaborating on rebranding and design implementation.

Overview

As part of the design team under P&O’s Marketing division at Carnival Corporation, I represented the marketing team in the P&O Cruises website rehaul project. The digital team, responsible for the website, had already embarked on the rehaul to improve user experience and increase conversions.

However, the marketing team had been excluded from the process, leading to a significant gap in branding consistency. My role was to bridge this gap, ensuring that the website aligned with P&O’s long-standing brand identity while collaborating with the digital team to maintain functionality and business goals.

Brand Identity & Initial Challenges

P&O Cruises embodies a spirited, uniquely Australian escape with a fun and friendly brand personality. The tone of voice is smart and playful, filled with casual, lighthearted language. The visual identity is vibrant and full of life, leveraging bold typography, oceanic themes, and bright colors to evoke adventure and camaraderie.

However, the first round of the website rehaul, led by the digital team and an external agency, deviated significantly from this established branding. The key issues included:

• Excessive Use of Darkness: The website design leaned heavily on dark themes, creating a grim and somber feel—opposite to P&O’s bright and lively persona.
• Overuse of Wildberry Color: The red-like hue was excessively used, making the UI resemble an error state.
• Heavy Gradient Overlays: Cruise imagery was overly covered by dark overlays, dulling the vibrant and inviting feel.
• Stakeholder Resistance: Gaining buy-in from the digital team to implement brand-aligned changes required careful negotiation.

UI Adjustments & Implementation

To bring the design closer to the 2010 P&O brand book, I worked alongside the digital team to implement the following key fixes:

• Replacing Dark Themes: We swapped out excessive black and dark blue overlays for lighter blues that resonated with the brand’s oceanic theme.
• Refining the Color Palette: Reduced the overwhelming use of Wildberry, opting for Lava orange, which maintained a vibrant but non-error-inducing appearance.
• Restoring Image Vibrancy: We reduced the gradient overlays and increased transparency to make images more lively and engaging.
• Stakeholder Management: Through strategic discussions, we secured a 50% implementation of these changes—a win for marketing despite resistance.

Unexpected Rebrand & Rapid UI Transition

Shortly after implementing these fixes, a new P&O rebrand was set to launch in two months, unknown to the digital team. Since the external agency’s contract had ended, we had limited time and resources to adjust the website to match the 2023 rebrand.

Immediate UI Adjustments

With only two days to deliver, I quickly:

• Provided CSS change cards for all H1s, H2s, and color schemes.
• Audited different elements and suggested quick-win changes to improve legibility. 
• Adjusted the font choice, moving from Faustina (print primary font) to Gelasio, a more web-compatible serif.
• Improved font hierarchy and visual hierarchy, ensuring readability while maintaining a visually appealing UI.
• Recommended reducing banner size, which had previously obscured key imagery.

Cruise Card Redesign & Final Collaboration

Upon immediate fixes, we collaborated with a third agency to fully rehaul the website in Figma. I worked extensively on redesigning cruise cards, ensuring:

• Clarity & Simplicity: The previous design was cluttered, hiding key imagery.
• Layering & Depth: Instead of relying on heavy gradient overlays, we balanced text and images for a more engaging layout.
• Brand Consistency: The new cruise cards aligned with P&O’s fresh visual identity while maintaining a user-friendly design.

Project Conclusion & Outcome

Despite efforts to refine and implement the new UI, P&O’s acquisition by Carnival Cruise Lines resulted in the abrupt halt of all growth projects, including this website rehaul.

However, key takeaways include:

• Successful Advocacy for Brand Consistency: Marketing’s voice was integrated into the website design process.
• Strategic Problem-Solving: Overcoming resistance and working within tight constraints led to a more refined digital experience.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Bridging marketing and digital teams ensured better alignment for future projects.

Although the project did not reach full completion, the work done significantly improved brand consistency, user experience, and stakeholder engagement for P&O Cruises' online presence.