Local Experiences
Due to the impact of COVID-19, our normal day-to-day activities were put on pause. REI's Local Experiences team came up with the clever idea of creating “How-To” videos to keep customers engaged with the outdoors during a time of uncertainty. The content for these videos would range from outdoor cooking tutorials to tips on how to clean your bike.
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My role
I was the sole designer, and conceptualized ideas for video content. I produced sketches, wireframes, and hi-fidelity mockups.
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Teamwork
I worked closely with 2 product managers and 2 engineers on crafting an experience for video.
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Timeline
1 month
Problem
When Covid-19 hit, REI’s classes and events were postponed indefinitely. While the pandemic put a pause on many people’s lives, REI remained committed to creating ways to help their customers stay connected to the outdoors.
How could we provide our customers with tips and tutorials during a time of crisis?
Goals
The goal of this project was to conceptualize an approach for hosting video that highlights the scale of REI’s expertise to their customers, and makes the information easily accessible.
Competitive analysis
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Airbnb
Airbnb introduced online experiences to their platform due to the effects of COVID-19. Their online experiences are live, interactive videos limited to small groups, hosted on Zoom. Customers can participate in online experiences around the world and meet people with different backgrounds without having to travel outside of their home.
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G Adventures
G Adventures introduces online virtual tours that are featured on their blog page. Customers can connect with the outdoors on their YouTube channel while listening to an experienced guide.
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Lonely Planet (inspiration)
Lonely Planet incorporates videos on their homepage. Featured videos are highlighted and recommended videos live in a carousel below. The video module is inline so users don’t have to navigate to another page.
Explorations
At the start of this project I met with our developers to figure out what would be the best solution to feature videos on our Events/Classes page in a short timeframe. Some things that we took into consideration were placement and functionality. Where would this video module live and how would it function?
The goal of the video widget was to connect people with the outdoors during the pandemic. It would be the first thing that customers saw on the page. For functionality, I incorporated existing components such as a thumbnail carousel that would serve as a playlist.
Search results page
Creating a video widget was a short term solution. What if the number of videos increased and we needed a space to host all of the videos? What would that look like? The layout below is similar to the search results page on the REI Adventure Travel website, but now it features video. It showcases a featured video with a short description at the top of the page, followed by a three-column layout of cards that link you to specific videos. Each card shows the title of the video, instructor, and the rating.
Video hub page
Another concept would be to build a one stop shop that hosts all of the “How to” videos. Customers can view featured videos, they can browse videos based on a specific activity, they can watch videos hosted by their favorite instructor, and they can view recommendations. This concept gives customers the flexibility to browse through a wide range of videos without leaving the page.
