Wildsam
Where Digital Wanderlust Meets Intentional Exploration
For over a decade, Wildsam has redefined the travel guide, publishing beautifully written companions that go beyond the tourist trail. When they partnered with Gladeye, the brief was clear: build a digital home that reflects their editorial spirit, stirs curiosity, and makes travel planning feel as inspiring as the journey itself. Their mission: to help people “Travel Different” — with more meaning, intention, and a genuine interest in people and place.
Crafting a Digital Haven
The challenge was multifaceted: amplify Wildsam's editorial voice, create a platform for diverse storytelling, build out the Wildsam universe and community, and craft a space for timely, relevant content. All while showcasing their field guides, trips, and various other content formats.
The site targets curious, smart individuals who appreciate intricacy and depth of place. These were primarily mobile-first users who value great creative brands, good writing, design, and photography - the Wildsam Mega Fans.
An Experience to Remember
We envisioned a digital experience that feels like a trip itself - planned and structured, but with moments of serendipity and discovery. Drawing inspiration from sites like WePresent, we set out to create something uniquely Wildsam.
Our concept centred on building a main multimedia content hub with intuitive tagging and navigation. We aimed to accommodate different story formats - interviews, lists, photo essays, maps - through modular design. The goal was a flexible design system allowing Wildsam's editorial team to create diverse, visually appealing layouts while staying true to their brand.
Key to our strategy was creating a platform that would excite readers about becoming part of the Wildsam community, enticing them to return and spread the word.
Uniqueness & Cohesiveness
We crafted a captivating digital experience that seamlessly blends Wildsam's unique outlook on travel with intuitive navigation. The striking homepage hero pulls you in, setting the tone for the journey ahead. Featuring a mix of media types and easy content filtering, the design showcases large, impactful photography. Interactive moments like parallax scrolling and floating photo hovers add depth and engagement.
Each piece of content retains a distinct feel within the cohesive Wildsam brand. Our modular design integrates rich media—images, videos, GIFs, maps, audio, and social embeds—accommodating various story formats while maintaining a consistent brand voice. Each destination comes alive through hero sections that capture its unique essence, and a varied typographic palette ensures distinct yet cohesive content.
Bringing the magazine to life
We wanted to capture the essence of their print magazine and guides—the keylines, the typography, the colour palette—and bring it to life on screen. For headlines, we used PDU, reminiscent of old American road signage, followed by a mix of Aeonik and Span to create a distinct editorial voice. Utilising their rich brand colours and pulling hues from their stunning photography, we created a unique atmosphere for each article page. This dynamic use of colour washes through the content, enhancing the storytelling and visual appeal.
Digital, print guides and trips are elegantly showcased alongside editorial content, creating a seamless journey from inspiration to exploration. Strategically placed email signups invite readers to join this unique travel world.
Behind the scenes, we developed a user-friendly CMS using Storyblok, granting Wildsam's team unprecedented control over content presentation. The tech stack—Next.js, Tailwind, Vercel—ensures fast loading times and SEO optimisation, positioning Wildsam at the forefront of web technology.
An Open Road for the Curious Travel
This digital platform is more than a website - it's an open road for the curious traveler. It's a source of inspiration that simplifies travel research without overwhelming, a flexible platform that can grow with Wildsam, easily integrating new features and building anticipation for upcoming releases.
We've created a space where readers can dive deep into a place's culture and history, save stories, create travel playlists, and become part of the Wildsam community. It positions Wildsam as an innovative creative company that believes in a different kind of travel, events, and storytelling.
The site embodies Wildsam's mission: to be the friend who shows you around a place, to cover travel through the lens of culture and history, to be your favorite stranger. It's a new standard in digital travel content, making Wildsam the most recognisable travel brand on the internet - a digital home that truly invites users to "Travel Different."
