Making Trails

We’ve been working with Making Trails since their first trail, Burton Swans, in 2020. Since then we’ve been creating a new app to showcase each new trail, working on a new style and design to complement the theme, and new features to help visitors enjoy the trail.

Create an interactive app
The primary objective is to create an interactive app that works on a range of Android and iOS devices, and enhances the trail experience for visitors. One of the main features includes a map showing the locations of all the sculptures, making navigation of the trail easy and engaging for locals and visitors alike. The other main interactive feature is visitors being able to ‘unlock’ barrels via a code when they locate them, revealing rewards and more information. The app needs to be incredibly user-friendly, quick to pick up with minimal explanation, compatible with a wide range of devices, and suitable for all ages.

Collect valuable data
The app is an important tool for quantifying the success of the trails by collecting important visitor data. It needs to securely gather data on visitor numbers and origins (ie postcodes) to assess the impact of the trails. It is vitally important that this data is stored securely, protecting user privacy and adhering to the data protection regulations. 

A fresh new look that matches the Making Trails brand 
Maintaining brand consistency while giving the app a unique, fresh look is essential. The app design needs to align with the brand identity of Making Trails, using a similar layout, features, and design to previous apps to ensure familiarity for repeat customers and help build a strong brand identity. At the same time, it needs to incorporate new visuals, styling, colours, and visuals that reflect the theme of this new trail; in this case, the theme is Burton Barrel Roll, with large barrel sculptures being dotted around Burton.

A user-friendly app 
Using our existing Making Trails app framework, we created a user-friendly app that benefitted from past user feedback. This foundation allowed us to focus on delivering an intuitive experience with consistent navigation, enabling users to move easily around the app and fully utilise and enjoy all the features. The intuitive layout ensured that both new and existing Making Trails users could quickly adapts to and engage with the app. 

Fun features to enhance the trail 
Although simple to use, the app significantly enhances a user’s experience on the trail. As well as a map and a way to unlock the barrels once they’re located, the app also includes interesting facts about the locations of the barrels, infomation on the artists, and who sponsored each barrel, enriching the visitor’s journey with educational content. To further engage users, unlocking a barrel also unlocks an exciting reward, such as colouring sheets, fames, discount codes, and giveaways. The voting system allows visitors to vote for their favourite barrels, adding an extra interactive element to the trail. All these features ensure that all ages find something engaging on the app.

Collecting valuable data 
The app effectively collects valuable data on visitor numbers, how many barrels they find, their postcodes, and their favourite barrels (if they vote!). This data is securely stored, ready for Making Trails to analyse for insights into the engagement levels of the Burton Barrel Roll.

Maintaining a strong brand identity 
We’ve kept a consistent brand identity across all the Making Trails app, including this new Burton Barrel Roll iteration. By using a similar layout and features, we ensured familiarity for repeat users and a recognisable Making Trails app experience, while new visuals, styling, colours, and icons reflecting Burton’s brewing history gives the app a fresh and distinctive look. This balance maintained the core brand identity while providing a unique, thematic experience for users. 

Smooth launch 
The Burton Barrel Roll app launched with the Trail on 6th July, with over 700 users downloading the app in the first few days. The launch was smooth, with no technical issues reported. We will continue to monitor and maintain the app throughout the six-week duration of the trail, ensuring a consistent and enjoyable experience for all visitors.

We love relationships like this one we have with Making Trails. Working on new iterations of the Making Trail app is not only enjoyable but also immensely rewarding. With each new trail we can improve the app, incorporating customer feedback, refining our designs, and anticipating future features. It is exciting to see what new enhancements will come out of each new trail. 

As a Burton-based company, we are particularly thrilled to work on projects that celebrate our hometown and encourage people to visit and explore its rich heritage, so the Burton Barrel Roll was particularly special. 

We can’t wait to join Making Trails on the next trail, and see how the apps will develop and grow with our ongoing partnership. 

“Haywyre were so easy to work with; knowledgeable, patient (when I couldn’t quite explain what I wanted), helpful and extremely professional. I have loved working with the team and wouldn’t hesitate to use their services again.”

Tilley, Making Trails