For tens of millions of travellers, Tripadvisor has lengthy been a byword for reliable recommendation. It is synonymous with actual individuals, actual evaluations, and no glossing over the dodgy breakfasts or the wobbly pool tiles.
Because the platform developed from a evaluation web site to a full-fledged world journey planning and reserving powerhouse, it wanted a model that would preserve tempo and turned to world inventive studio Koto to redefine its identification for its subsequent chapter.
The result’s a heat, human-centred model transformation that leans into what Tripadvisor has all the time carried out finest: sharing genuine experiences, unfiltered and unapologetic.
Arthur Foliard, government inventive director at Koto, says: “As Tripadvisor is coming into a brand new chapter of its progress, the model needed to meet that second. That meant placing the center of Tripadvisor – its world neighborhood of travellers – entrance and centre. We constructed your entire technique and identification round actual individuals: their phrases, their pictures, their tales.”
On the core of this new identification is a give attention to Tripadvisor’s strongest asset: its monumental neighborhood of reviewers. Koto immersed itself within the methods individuals truly use Tripadvisor at the moment, working carefully with the corporate’s inside groups throughout model and product.
They anchored the redesign round a easy but potent reality: individuals need recommendation from different travellers who mirror their values and lived experiences. No generic inventory photographs or algorithmic nonsense – simply sincere, relatable perception.
That precept set the tone for your entire venture, driving not simply the visible refresh but in addition Tripadvisor’s verbal identification. The voice is hotter, friendlier, and simpler to attach with, flexing confidently between product and model with out dropping its character.
Koto designed it to stability editorial readability with the knowledge of its neighborhood, making certain that the traveller’s voice by no means will get misplaced in company messaging. Giselle Childs, senior strategist at Koto, explains: “We wrote like a well-travelled pal: easy, heat, considerate, and enjoyable in the fitting moments. On the identical time, we needed to go away room for the traveller voice to shine.”
In fact, you’ll be able to’t discuss Tripadvisor with out mentioning Ollie, the owl mascot that is quietly watched over its model for years, and he is had a glow-up, too. As soon as decorative and static, he is now free of his round perch, turning into a extra curious and dynamic companion whose gaze follows the traveller’s content material.
“We freed Ollie from the circle and gave it extra character, extra flexibility, extra play,” Arthur says. “Now Ollie can peek, level, wink, and journey with you in a manner it by no means might earlier than.”
Tripadvisor’s signature inexperienced additionally obtained a considerate rethink. Initially impressed by “inexperienced means go”, it is now hotter and extra vibrant, complemented by new shades similar to Journey Pine and Journey White to construct depth, reassurance, and readability.
A secondary palette, drawn instantly from hundreds of actual traveller pictures, provides character. Whether or not it is the blush of a sundown, a splash of sea foam, or the deep blue of a metropolis evening, these hues are designed to really feel private and lived-in — a tribute to the platform’s true storytellers.
Tripadvisor’s new customized typeface, Journey Sans, takes inspiration from its iconic bubble score system, echoing its round kinds to create a way of cohesion and heat. Graphic units borrow from the world of journey ephemera – rounded corners, inexperienced dots, and postcard-like frames – to softly construction content material with out overwhelming it.
Crucially, images stays the emotional heartbeat of the model. Sourced solely from actual consumer content material, the imagery is unfiltered, narrative-led, and dynamic, giving individuals an sincere sense of what they could truly expertise. Koto even developed a preset suite to unify tone and texture throughout this wealthy, user-generated pool of pictures, preserving a way of place and story.
Movement provides an additional flourish, however by no means in a showy manner. Ollie’s eyes subtly monitor content material, interface parts glide with intent, and transitions are calm and measured. The general impression is certainly one of exploration and a sort of light, guided motion that mirrors the journey expertise itself.
There is a threat, with so many layers, from typography and movement to graphic parts and images, that issues might really feel cluttered or overly designed. Nonetheless, Arthur and the group saved their north star clear.
“We constructed the system with the traveller in thoughts, not the designer,” he says. That meant letting typography stay clear and editorial, permitting imagery to shine, and making certain movement helps moderately than distracts.
It is a refined however assured shift that made Tripadvisor’s model really feel extra beneficiant, extra open, and crucially, extra human. It reveals that design programs do not need to flatten or sanitise a model’s character, even at scale. As an alternative, they will amplify the quirks, tales, and knowledge of actual individuals, which is strictly what Tripadvisor got down to champion when it first started 25 years in the past.
Arthur sums it up neatly: “In a time when the whole lot’s being optimised or AI-generated, Tripadvisor’s benefit is that it is actual. And we made certain the model wears that proudly.”
It is a lesson for different journey or platform manufacturers wrestling with authenticity. You’ll be able to incorporate AI instruments, a slick UX, and a seamless reserving circulation, but when your model voice feels robotic or disconnected, individuals will see proper by way of it.
With Koto’s assist, Tripadvisor has chosen to belief within the energy of lived expertise and to rejoice the wonder, humour, and occasional chaos of the highway simply because it comes. On the finish of the day, the very best journeys are those you’ll be able to’t totally predict, and that is one thing no algorithm (irrespective of how intelligent) can ever really replicate.
