Orient-Express: Presenting images well

A large photo library catalogued to deliver matches against a comprehensive range of simply-understood search categories and backed with always-at-hand support.

The Site

Orient-Express is a UK-based luxury hotels and travel group that uses its website to feature its holidays and destinations. More than 2,000 images illustrating this portfolio are housed in an Image Library that can be accessed from the side-bar menu within Media Information and other main sections of the site (but not Investor Information, Trains & Cruises and Vacations).

An overview page offers two separate libraries, Trains & Cruises and Hotel, both searchable by a customised category selector and/or keyword. Matches are shown in a secondary browser window with its own discrete navigation bar for support sections covering copyright, usage, help etc.. Images are available in hi- and low-res formats and can be downloaded direct from the site, but an initial registration is required for hi-res options.

However, the libraries present two user features differently. The search panel is on the overview page of Hotels but in Trains & Cruises appears only after an initial ‘product’ choice has been made. And a key on search results pages to the use of icons for image display is included only on the Hotels version.

The Takeaway

For organisations with a well-developed use of imagery, whether in their advertising and publicity or their publications, the web is a natural medium for housing a photo library both as a service to professional users such as journalists and as a ‘sticky’ attraction for potential customers and browsers. However, few manage the user-friendly organisation of the Orient-Express Image Library. It has catalogued its large collection to deliver matches against a comprehensive range of simply-understood search categories (24 for Hotels including Chefs, Bars, Suites, Gym, Beaches) and provided always-at-hand support and clear explanations of how the system works.

The one blind-spot in this attention to detail is the mis-harmonisation between the two libraries’ overview pages, which extends to their look as well as functionality, and the lack of an icon key on Trains & Cruises search results pages. This can give users a slight sense of disorientation and an inconsistent feel of the company, neither desirable for such an image-conscious group.

First published on 22 February, 2005