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Helix Skate
Helix Skate is building a new online platform for showcasing and supporting artists and creatives in the skateboarding community.
Helix Skate is a company that envisions partnering with artists and skateboarders to create expressive products, as well as support a culture that values the creatives who make the board. Consumers can explore the collection of designs while also learning about the people behind them.
Physical skate stores typically operate under small margins, with high costs towards the location and maintenance of the location. In addition, competition with big chain retail stores and brands can make it difficult to differentiate in the market.
My role was to establish an understanding of skaters personal lives and values, and explore any opportunities to reach skaters in new and exciting ways.
I began by conducting market research to put our target into perspective. This consisted of breakdowns regarding competitive product strategies, general UX practices and Heuristics, as well as industry trends and best practices. Through that analysis, we could then determine whether the market is currently competitive, or if a complete reimagining of the company was required. Then, I outlined a user research guide to ensure interviews would collect as much important qualitative information about skateboarders as possible. The important questions we needed to answer were as follows.
After our extensive collection of data, we created User Personas to help organize and focus on the key opportunities and issues found with the target audience. Primarily, what was overly emphasized was a desire for an easier way to build a digital community around the sport, and connect with others. Discovering other important skateboarders and artists, with a sensitivity around social authenticity, would provide an important emotional need.
With the importance placed on both the social and creative aspects of skateboarding, as well as appealing designs being the main draw in a skateboard purchase, we re-examined the business model and came up with a new solution to double the digital store as a platform for the creative designers behind the products. Each skateboard can be a collaboration between Helix and artists or other skaters within the community. While lots of skateboards rely on identifiable icons and intellectual properties, Helix can connect through creative artists and skateboarders.
It was important to journey map early on, to better evaluate what points in the process would pose the greatest risk for the experience. This way, we could brainstorm and evaluate possible features or improvements to the overall process that would positively effect the user. From there, I created an outline evaluating all of our brainstormed features, based on the expected value they would provide to both the business and the user. It was important to ensure each solution would smoothly fit together into a wholistic designed experience, so approval for certain features were dependent on if their addition would provide tangible business or user value, and if they would clash with other possible features or tenets to Helix Skate values.
It was important to give the web experience a distinctive style that invokes some of the feelings of the movement of skating. While navigation is still key, the charm of the interactiveness invites the people to stay on the page. The main concern, was how do we balance practicality with aesthetic? It was important to convey attitude, but it also can’t be at the cost of usability. I started with the Logo, general color choices, and worked my way up from there. The idea is to still invoke some of the aesthetic of modern skateboarding brands, while still retaining some unique flair and simplicity. A primarily black and white style was chosen so that color emphasis can stay on the artists, their imagery, and their skateboard designs, to make them pop off the page.
The new prototype is focused on strong animation and movement. These are tied to simpler interaction design mechanics, such as hovering over cards to expand, as well as improved scrolling mechanics. This leaves the user feeling more empowered and satisfied through their tiny interaction decisions. Other key principles implemented were:
Connecting the artist to the skater was successful. Skaters do consider creative endeavors to be highly valued. By emphasizing that connection through the customer experience, 70% of test users describe having a higher level of interest than general skate brands, such as Zumiez or PacSun. This reaffirms the position that these products can be sold at fewer quantities with a higher premium, while targeting niche and hardcore skaters. However, long term study is needed to fully track Helix developing as a brand with a dedicated following.
In addition, plans to design and develop a native app for mobile can truly leverage powerful interaction and motion, and can provide greater ease for more frequent store check in.
There is an argument to be made for longboards. Right now, roughly 40% of skateboarders also cite interest in longboards. Longboarding is also a very different experience than skateboarding, so expanding may be necessary to further grow interest. While the core idea of creating an online creative skate experience is great, the absence of physical stores to create a physical local community remains a challenge. Social Media can foster a new community, and may be integral to the strategy.
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