Theme parks are magical worlds where children learn and play. They're a place for making memories, experiencing stories and seeing brands come to life.
They can also teach us a lot about the use of space. How do they move people around? How do they teach new things in delightful ways? How do they encourage playfulness in a safe, inclusive environment? With CBeebies Land only a stones throw away, we took a trip to get us thinking beyond the screen.
So what new, exciting ideas did we take from our visit? And how might this help us reimagine an online space for our younger audiences?
Use waiting as an opportunity
You'll be familiar with long wait times for rides. CBeebies Land use fun facts, games and puzzles to distract kids whilst waiting. Online, we can be at risk of losing frustrated users through load times. But what if we also used these in-between moments as fun opportunities to learn and play?
We know time is precious. We plan to find more ways to entertain our audiences, helping them get more value from our services at every moment.
Use the right voice and tone
CBeebies Land's brand voice is friendly, fun and inviting at all times. It also pays special attention to how tone should change between parents and children.
We don't like dry, non-child friendly language either. We want to take a fresh look at how we write instructions and prompts in our children's websites, games and apps.
Aid content discovery
CBeebies Land move people around, encouraging them to try new things in imaginative ways. Lights and sound, windows as portals and secret passageways take visitors to new places.
We love helping people discover new content. Finding new fun and interactive ways to help audiences uncover all we have to offer is at the top of our list.
Make a safe, inclusive place
Safety comes first when designing for children. CBeebies Land fences and child-proofs its spaces in an unobtrusive way. Dual hand rails, peepholes at different heights and customisable lift controls set high accessibility standards.
We work hard to make the ±«Óătv a safe and inclusive place. We'll continue to make our services accessible, and tailor them better for each of our users.
Bring people together
An outdoor event space brings visitors together to share experiences. Whether it's to participate or simply watch, this central meeting spot creates a social hub.
We know that social connection is important to our audiences. We hope to find ways to make our online spaces more social to connect young people everywhere.
We set out to find more ways to engage kids and encourage them to explore in a safe, shared space. CBeebies Land showed us how they do this, and how we might apply more magic to our online experiences.
Whether it's a rollercoaster or an app, it's the magic of great user experience that makes a real difference. And we can't wait to get working on our plans!
