Agency: Strategic Holdings
Duration: 1 year
My team: Agency Partner, Product Manager, Sales Lead, Sales Rep, Marketing Strategist, and Writers
My Roles: Product Designer / UX Architect / Content Designer / Art Director / Editorial Designer / Graphic Designer
Tasks Performed: User Research (Primary and Secondary), Experience Design, Information Architecture, Visual Design, Content Design, Branding, Photography, Advertising, and Print Production
Deliverables: Logo design, brand guidelines, editorial system, sales toolkit, Resource Guide, and social media advertising
Impact:
• This Resource Guide simplified the transition for the Expat (foreign) community relocating to the Yucatan Peninsula, providing a trusted source for finding essential services and products for their daily lives.
• We established a communication platform between the local and expat communities, fostering cultural exchange and facilitating interactions.
• The local community experienced economic growth by gaining insights into new customer demographics and adapting to their needs while preserving local traditions and cultural essence.
The Guide to Living in Yucatan: Double-page spreads
“Our goal is to build a bridge between the Yucatán business community and the rest of the country, primarily focusing on the foreigners who visit us each year—many of whom have made the Península their new home.”
- Strategic Holdings Director
Strategic Holdings is a Yucatecan marketing agency dedicated to addressing the needs of expatriates (foreigners) living in the Yucatan Peninsula. Many of these expatriates had relocated from the USA, Canada, and several European countries.
The agency’s director proposed launching a magazine to provide expatriates with essential information for daily life, covering topics such as healthcare, immigration, real estate, housing services, local culture, events, and language learning.
Half of the costs for the guide were to be covered by local businesses aiming to reach the expatriate community. These businesses sought to promote their products and services while fostering a deeper cultural connection.
With support from business partnerships and government investment, the agency planned to secure the necessary budget for the project. The initial goal was to produce one magazine edition every six months, with an annual print run of 10,000 copies.
To validate the product concept, we needed to conduct user research to ensure the resource guide addressed expatriates' pain points, met the stakeholders' business goals, and could be produced within the designated timeframe.
Sales toolkit: Brochure
The Guide to Living in Yucatan: Cover 1st edition
Understanding the expatriate community
Yucatán is a state in southeastern Mexico, where most of the population is native-born. Few Mexicans relocate from northern or central regions. Additionally, a small portion of the local population has Mayan roots, with many still speaking the Mayan language.
This rich Mayan heritage adds to the peninsula’s unique atmosphere. However, this strong cultural connection can sometimes make locals wary of outsiders, making it difficult for other communities to integrate into their deeply rooted traditions.
To better understand expatriates' perspectives on this, the marketing team organized a focus group with five members of the expat community to discuss their relocation experiences and how they were affected by interactions with locals. I participated in this research as an observer and note-taker.
After analyzing insights from the focus group and reviewing data from a government survey, we created three personas, prioritizing the one with the largest portion of our audience.
We held a team workshop to create an Empathy Map and concluded that the proposed product would effectively address, the main challenges expatriates encountered during relocation.
Key topics to include in the guide were about:
• Ensuring expats have a safe, affordable, and enjoyable relocation experience.
• Helping expats integrate socially within their new community.
• Enabling expats to make the most of their time while learning about the new culture.
• Assisting expats in effectively communicating in their new environment.
• Supporting expats in achieving economic stability by maximizing savings or securing new job opportunities.
Expatriates living in Yucatán find the relocation and assimilation into local life challenging due to various cultural barriers.
The Guide to Living in Yucatan: Cover 2nd edition
Double-page spread with directory, copyright page, and table of contents
The Guide to Living in Yucatan: Double-page spread showing a Home Care/Real Estate/Vacation Rentals article
How might we engage expats while providing essential guidance for a smooth and enriching relocation experience?
As a User Experience Designer, my initial considerations for ideation were as follows:
| Experience and Visual Design |
• The concept of the guide should resemble that of a high-quality travel magazine.
• Treat the print finishes as a key element in creating a distinctive and immersive reading experience.
• The cover design should maintain a consistent visual language across all editions.
• Ensure accessibility is integral to the design, including font selection, paragraph length, content density, and even the physical weight of the guide.
| Information Architecture and Content Design |
• Define topics and sections that address the core needs of the users.
• Implement a clear visual hierarchy in line with editorial best practices.
• Choose writing collaborators carefully, considering user needs, relevant topics, and the project's tone of voice.
| Branding |
• Establish a tone of voice that aligns with the agency's values, advertisers, local culture, and expatriate community.
• The logo should embody the local culture, resonate with the expatriate community, and symbolize a connection with the local population.
• Opt for a color palette that is welcoming, warm, vibrant, and joyful.
• Ensure consistency and cohesion in storytelling across the guide, marketing collateral, sales tools, and social media.
| Advertisers Scope |
• Collaborate with the sales and marketing teams to create a list of potential advertisers, considering the three target geographic areas: Mérida, Izamal, and coastal regions.
The Guide to Living in Yucatan: Double-page spread with section intro
The Guide to Living in Yucatan: Double-page spread with article and half page ad
Design, print production, and distribution
| Designing the Guide |
Using research insights and ideation highlights, I established the guide’s structure, focusing on key topics that addressed the primary pain points of users. A major part of the process involved iterating on the layout and defining the editorial patterns to ensure clarity and usability.
I prioritized designing a clear information architecture, making the content easy to navigate, and aligning it with user needs. Equally crucial was the visual and experience design, where I developed a cohesive brand identity that aimed to resonate with the local culture and expatriate values, using warm and welcoming aesthetics.
| Overseeing the Print Production |
Once the editorial design and content received approval, the Print Manager produced several printing proofs to ensure usability.
We tested the high-fidelity prototypes with the same focus group participants, who provided valuable feedback for final refinements.
After incorporating these adjustments, the final file was prepared and sent to the printing house. Following a month and a half of production and multiple reviews, we received 5,000 copies of the first edition of The Guide to Living in Yucatán.
| Distribution Strategy |
With pre-arranged distribution points, the sales team delivered 50 to 100 copies to each designated location, ensuring the guide reached its intended audience effectively.
The Guide to Living in Yucatan: Double-page spread
Takeaways
| Reflections for the Second Edition |
• Last-minute sales significantly impacted the delivery timeline and the guide's ad layout. Which solution could be implemented as a tracking tool to monitor advertising progress?
• The agency will need a tool to showcase the benefits and ROI for advertisers considering renewal or first-time inclusion in the second edition.
• Feedback from distribution points revealed the need for a prominent display to highlight the guide. In larger spaces, placing the guide as a coffee table book proved inconvenient for easy visibility.
| Reflections for the Future |
• Should we consider doing The Guide to Living in Yucatan as a digital experience?
