Elevating Thematic Branding through Social Media Content: A Visual Concept of Kayutangan Heritage's Instagram Feed

Tourism is one of the main economic sectors of the nation. Malang Raya is a region with various tourism destinations. Malang City, in particular, has announced and started developing a thematic tourism destination called Kayutangan Heritage, located in Kayutangan area. The smart tourism concept, based on integrated communication and technology and tourism has been adopted by several countries, including Indonesia. Through the concept, tourism organizations and institutions utilize technological innovation to elevate attractions and enrich tourism experiences for the visitors, both domestic and international. This paper aimed to rebrand the visual concept and social media content of the Kayutangan Heritage, especially on Instagram to be more appealing and in line with the destination character. Design thinking and data collection methods through online questionnaire (n=32) were used. The respondents were young adults/university students in Malang chosen using purposive technique. A new visual and content concept for Kayutangan Heritage's Instagram account was created to elevate the Heritage image and brand. Providing the new visual content and brand is hoped to support the development of tourism destination of Malang and moving forward to a ‘smart’ approach through optimization of technology features and application. The proposed design presented an informative, communicative, relevant, unique, fresh, and modern impression for the thematic brand of Kayutangan Heritage. Informational and educational content relevant to the brand are necessary to support the social media brand and content.