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Homepage Product 3 yr Vision

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 product 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.

 
 
 
 

How I Do It

 

STRATEGIZE

Created a coherent narrative and told a story.

PLAN

Thought broadly to create a realistic project plan.

COMMUNICATE

Read the room to drive conversations.

EXPERIMENT

Ideate. Create. Hypothesize. Test. Iterate.

 
 

Product Design Phases

Phase 1: 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.

  • Heard from 236 total participants / customers via qualitative studies

    • 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).

  • 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.

 
 

Phase 2: 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 CX 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: DEPLOYMENT 

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.

 

Phase 4: 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.