Goals

Brave New Gear is a site that focuses on bold new tech initiatives, privacy and ideas that push the boundaries toward a smarter, more sustainable future. The original site was active between 2014-2015 and started to develop a very small following - around 10,000 unique visitors per month.

My goal for this project was to redesign the UI and build an experience strategy for Brave New Gear to help kickstart the project back to life. The new design needed to be easily scalable if the site really took off.

Research

For this project my initial research was really focused and quick. I planned to cycle back to this stage later to run more in-depth surveys and user testing. However I didn’t want to put a lot of energy on the old design itself.

I did do a quick audit of the existing site and reviewed the competitor landscape. I did some preliminary user research (surveys) to determine who visited the site, as well as the type of users that might visit the site. I also outlined the current site architecture.

Some of the initial findings:

• Majority male age 25-35
• Visit couple times a month
• Want option to see user reviews (video)
• Want ability to save something for later
• Majority viewed on mobile device

Some basic analysis hinted at where I should focus when wireframing:

• Clear bold messaging
• Focus on the feed
• Storytelling (bring in this element) (user reviews)
• Strategic call to action for saving or buying
• Clean design - with custom icon set

Wireframing

Design

What's Next

I am only at the begining of the process for Brave New Gear. Here are my next steps:

• prototype MVP
• run some basic usibility tests
• cycle back to research phase armed with new research data
• make adjustments on the design/flow
• create brand guideline including voice
• outline social and content strategy

After I complete another iteration I will also update this case study to document my process, challenges, and takeaways.