In lockstep with National Geographic’s internal teams from the very start, we transformed their site and iOS app, then set the course for what’s next. As we strategized and designed, we prototyped and tested. So every decision, and every page, was gleaned through human insights and user testing. We brainstormed, sketched, debated, designed, and built side-by-side in true collaboration. What better way to celebrate the brand’s 130th birthday, than do it together.
Strategy / User Testing / UX Design / Art Direction / HTML Prototyping
Our journey began with National Geographic’s most highly trafficked place — the article page. With millions of people coming to the site from social, we optimized this landing spot for the highest level of engagement and approached it like a mini homepage.
We thoughtfully created a feed-like experience with a never-ending well of stunning content to explore. We smartly integrated interstitial ads at unobtrusive moments and truncated content for enhanced recirculation. At every step, we tested our theories and implemented our learnings. Page depth results increased dramatically because we designed an awe-inspiring experience for mobile that let the stories shine through.
This project was nominated for a Webby Award in the Best User Experience (desktop) category.
Next came a redesign of the immersive hubs for each category that internal teams could execute on with agility and ease. From Science & Innovation to Animals & Wildlife, these hub pages needed the flexibility to evolve alongside daily content and sponsorship opportunities. The result was customized spaces for partnerships that felt consistent, beautiful, and each told their own visual story.
The homepage had the most stakeholders, the most sub-brands, and the most anticipation. It was important for this page to feel as big and beautiful as the world of National Geographic — a portal into a universe of never-ending exploration that was always changing. We brought it all together, and collaborated closely with internal teams to align on every different business, content, and philanthropic initiative. We worked together to achieve a destination people wanted to return to, again and again.
We took National Geographic’s existing assets and beautifully brought them to life for the digital landscape. We modernized the iconic elements of the brand, and made space for their world-renowned photography to take center stage. Now, there is a scalable, modern visual system that lives as a toolkit, and has been put to use by internal teams across the business to tell the most ambitious digital stories out there.
Winning a Webby Award in 2019, our redesign of NatGeo’s main iOS app was focused on making room for future growth and giving users a more personalized experience. We updated the UX to allow for growth of content types like AR, personalized feeds, and premium articles. While the information architecture was refreshed for the global audience with room in tabs for different countries.
This project won a Webby Award for the Best User Experience (mobile) category.