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Homepage Evolution

Initially, the project focused on adapting the existing component library to accommodate the Brand Story for the new page.

However, upon reviewing the request and understanding the core problem, I proposed a revised direction.

 
 

This new approach leveraged design principles to create a more impactful solution by identifying new opportunities that went beyond simply utilizing existing components instead expanded to a 3yr product vision. Shifting the focus to the customer journey and reframing the problem around customer needs provided business value, grounding a more robust future vision and strategy for the homepage.

NEW GOALS: Define and execute a new homepage strategy.

Optimize for Personalization, Content Management System and Brand by defining Information Architecture, providing comprehensive research, executing enhanced component designs, functionality, and content.

My Approach - Disciplines

 

Design Strategy

Created a vision for the homepage, collaborating with Product Manager, Digital Creative Designers, Content Designer, Marketing, and Brand.

Identified gaps, market trends, and user needs, defined the target audience, set objectives, and collaborated with the Product Manager to align business goals and design direction.

 

Service Design

Provided the ‘Big Picture’ by developing personas, journey mapping, identifying pain points, and designing processes, systems, and interactions to effectively meet user needs.

Orchestrated how various components work together seamlessly to achieve tailored experiences, more relevant and engaging experiences for the homepage.

Ensured a holistic page experience by considering all variations, marketing themes, brand interactions, and maintaining consistency and integration across different product offerings.

Product Design

Delivered tangible elements that users interact with directly. Ensuring that these elements are not only visually appealing but also easy to use and align with the overall service design and strategy.

Provided detailed design specifications of user interfaces (UI) and user experiences (UX) and the technical implementation of these components.

Information Architect

Content strategy alignment — ensured that the organization of the information aligns with the overarching design strategy. Translated the business goals and user needs identified in the design strategy into a coherent structure that users can navigate intuitively.

Provided direction in deciding how content should be prioritized, labeled, and organized based on strategic goals. This supports the creation of a logical and effective digital framework for the homepage.

 

Program Initiative Results

The successful approval and prioritization of our projects by C-suite executives, along with the strong buy-in from stakeholders, was a testament to our teams collaborative efforts. Together, we identified and mitigated potential risks, leading to improved metrics such as increased engagement, enhanced click-through rates, and a stronger brand impression. This achievement underscores the power of teamwork and collective dedication.

 
 

Overcoming Challenges: My Journey

Challenge — Product Manager was on leave for 3 months, limited coverage was available. Objectives and priorities became unclear. The homepage initiative started to loose direction.

Resolution leading to momentum — I took a step back, worked closely with my Director & Design Manager to redefine goals, engaged with key stakeholders to ensure alignment and understanding.

Challenge — Historical friction between internal teams causing resistance to change.

Resolution leading to collaboration — I started with a place of empathy, learned how to align with existing organizational culture while driving change. I created regular touch points with cross functional teams, implemented clear channels for feedback and ensured that everyone involved understand the initiatives status and their roles.

 

As a Principle, I am accountable to…

 
 

Strategize

Created a coherent narrative and told a story to set the vision and direction.

Plan

Thought broadly to create a realistic project plan. Translated the strategy into actionable tasks.

Communicate

Read the room to drive conversations, set expectations, and collaborate.

Experiment

Ideate. Create. Hypothesize. Test. Iterate. Drive innovation and continuous improvement.

 

Process

Phase 1: DISCOVERY & ASPIRATION

 
 

Began discovery work to build a point of view on what we want to aspire to. This was completed with generative and evaluated research, leveraging my expertise in creating testing plans and interpreting tests.

 
 

Qualitative Studies

  • 236 total participants

    • REI value proposition study, zone concept testing and content testing: 58 participants, 5 pages

    • REI homepage impression study: 58 participants, 5 versions of the homepage for various events

    • Led competitive research: Analyzed 14 competitor sites through 22 tests, 16 features with 88 participants.

    • Zone concept testing: 32 participants analyzing Brand & Membership content & design.

  • Conducted a comprehensive audit: Analyzed user needs, homepage variations, and existing assets (8 homepage templates, 6 major campaigns, 20+ components).

Workshops, Personas, Journey Maps and Visiontype

Facilitated stakeholder management: Hosted a workshop with Sr. PM to map stakeholders, prioritize objectives, and identify CX themes.

Defined product strategy (with Sr. PM): Collaborated to define 8 durable product themes.

Established team vision and direction: Led a CX team workshop to create a vision statement, design principles, and guideposts for the project.

Developed design standards and best practices: Defined and communicated gold-standard practices for optimal user experience.

Created a high-fidelity prototype (Visiontype): Crafted a strategic prototype showcasing the ideal future customer experience on the homepage.

Co-created a user-centered hypothesis for the initiative with Sr. PM and Principal Content Designer.

Presented to executive level leadership and cross functional teams.

 

Establish what we know - known knowns and know unknowns

 
 
 

Product UX team collaboration in providing a point of view for Product Managers and Stakeholders.

 

Defined agreed upon truths as Design Principles to guide the UX team in decision making, act as the guideposts that keep your entire team on the same path as we moved through the design process.

By creating personas and journey mapping, the team was able to provide a comprehensive understanding of our customers and their interactions with the homepage, leading to more effective and user-centered design solutions.

UX workshop: Brainstormed and captured the definition of "Zones", connections of objectives & deliverables. Shared with Product Manager to build the Zone approach and map into program objectives and roadmap.

Artifact delivered providing Structure, Rhyme and Reason for the Future Homepage

Information Architect is about making information findable and understandable, which is fundamental to creating a successful product, thus the foundational strategy and vision work in articulating opportunities and growth for stakeholders.

 

Phase 2: IDEATION & REALIZATION

  • Translated ideas into actionable product design requirements for content and engineering teams.

  • Ideated on concepts with other designers, content design, researchers, engineers and Sr.PM.

  • Built prototypes to bring awareness, knowledge of the product to gain desire, and gather objective feedback.

  • Gathered stakeholder input, tested within usertesting, analyzed data, empathized and refined until the parts of the product was ready to build for production testing.

  • Presented to executive level leadership and cross functional teams.

 

Homepage C-Suite Executive Vision Presentation Video

See me in action, through storytelling I was able to articulate a complex concept into consumable, actionable next steps for Senior leaders across the organization, strategic partners and Executive Level Leadership.

 
 
 
 

Phase 3: TEST, LEARN, DEPLOY

current status

Iterative work of building and refining the product.

  • Connected with engineers, content designer, other design contributors, marketing and Brand to refine design specification.

  • Build and test in production for both qualitative and quantitative data.

  • Presented across functional teams and leadership.

 
 

Multi browse pack was tested and yielded positive results, increasing traffic downstream, conversion, and lower bounce rates. Next steps, now that we know the mechanism and need for multiple messaging yields positive results, team can innovate and iterate the visual design and bring that next layer of quality into the execution.

 
 
 

Collaborating with a content designer and the membership product team I created a concept to test a “membership” zone that was situational based on the type of customer viewing the page. This test provided a deeper understanding the potential impacts this type of content could have on the page which consisted of compelling visitors to scroll, member acquisition, and incentivizing existing customers to use their rewards and purchase full price items. This micro effort added to the business value of investing in personalization and providing product managers direction on what to prioritize and make feasible sooner rather than later.

Wireframe to scrappy mocks to get a feel for rhythm for the page and grouping associations for Curated Shopping Zone -> content themes.
Mapped back to Stakeholder Workshop
Explored content themes and design variations, shared in design critiques, stakeholder brainstorming sessions and refinement sessions with engineers.

 

Phase 4: ARTIFACTS & MATURITY

NEXT PHASE

Create guidelines and use cases for content creation and implementation.

Design specifications and component refinement for engineering team.

Collaborate, mentor and collectively create product parts with design partners, content designers, and marketing creative teams.

Team

  • Principle Product Design HP & Navigation (my role)

  • Product Designer

  • Content Designer

  • User Researcher

  • Sr. Product Manager

  • Product Owner

  • Lead Development Engineer

  • Technical Architect

  • Scrum Master

Stakeholders

  • Executive Leadership

  • Divisional Digital Leaders (Product, Design, Marketing, Brand)

  • Product Design Manager

  • Marketing team

  • Digital Creative team

  • Brand

  • Analytics

  • Personalization team

  • CMS team

  • SEO

  • REI Business Channels, i.e. Experiences, Account, Membership, Co-op Brands, Expert Advice, Co-op Media.

 

Let’s Get Real

Curious about what sets me apart as a strong product designer? Wondering why I’m the person who supports where needed and brings people together? Dive into my story of reflection to find out.