Designing Innovative Visual Story Mapping For Strategic Branding of Indonesian Tourism Villages: A Design Thinking Perspective

Abstract

The development of tourism villages in Indonesia holds significant potential for supporting sustainable tourism through the promotion of cultural richness and local wisdom. However, many tourism villages have not yet effectively optimized their digital branding strategies, particularly in delivering structured narratives that communicate cultural values, local legends, and authentic tourism experiences. This gap highlights the need for an approach that integrates narrative potential with digital media. This study aims to design visual digital story mapping as an innovative strategy for branding Indonesian tourism villages using a Design Thinking approach. A qualitative method was employed, with data collected through literature review, journal analysis, and documentation to identify key needs, challenges, and opportunities in developing digital promotional media. The Design Thinking framework consisting of empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test was applied to generate user-centered solutions. The results indicate that visual digital story mapping effectively integrates natural resources, local culture, legends, and community activities into a structured, contextual, and engaging storytelling flow. The implementation in Desa Tomok in the Danau Toba area, the Dieng Plateau, and Wae Rebo in Flores demonstrates that each village has distinct narrative strengths—based on legend, spirituality, and journey-based experiences that can be systematically developed through story mapping. In addition to serving as a promotional medium, this approach functions as a storytelling guideline for content creators, enabling the production of consistent and identity-driven content. This study contributes to the development of more structured, engaging, and experience-based digital branding strategies for tourism villages in the era of digital transformation.