Pebble

New Product Launch

Visual Design + Optimization

Pebble is the maker of the first smartwatch. While working at CROmetrics, I had the privilege of helping them introduce a new line of products to the world.

Teaser for Kickstarter Campaign

Challenge

Unlike projects I had worked on previously, this campaign was for a product that wasn’t for sale yet. It was being crowdfunded on Kickstarter and wouldn’t be released for months. So the goal was to motivate users to go back the products on Kickstarter. It was all about building hype.

Mystery Products in Navigation

Research

Aside from studying up on Pebble’s existing branding and style guidelines, I did a fair amount of competitive analysis to make sure I didn’t replicate what other smartwatch makers like Apple or Fitbit were doing. I also used SWOT analysis to figure out where the focus should be as I designed.

Left: Generic Preorder, Right: Product Specific Preorder

Solution

Pebble is about simplicity. They didn’t design their smartwatch to be “just another gadget”. They came up with a solution to help keep people from having to look at their phone every few minutes to see if they had any new text messages. The Pebble smartwatch is a simple solution to a modern day challenge. So I stayed true to the Pebble design aesthetic and focused on bold imagery that emphasized the beauty and simplicity of the products.

Most people don’t care about the tech specs. They care about how a product makes their life easier. I didn’t want to bombard people with information up front. That’s what the Kickstarter page was for. I decided to leave something to the imagination, to give people that sense of discovery when they clicked the link to find out more.

Bold Homepage Treatment

Testing

We tested multiple concepts for various interactions surrounding the new product launch, including homepage, product page, and navigation treatments. Overall it was a very successful campaign.

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