CLIENT
UScellular
RESPONSIBILITIES
UX strategy with competitive analysis
Visual/UI design
Content/messaging strategy
Visual/UI design
Content/messaging strategy
GOAL
Redesign home page to integrate the new brand mission, and better showcase business offerings; design additional support content including campaign landing page and interactive experience.
CHALLENGE
In 2023, UScellular introduced an industry-disrupting campaign highlighting the company’s commitment to encouraging a healthier relationship with tech. To adequately message the mission, the home page needed to be revamped to move away from promotional-heavy content, instead introducing visitors to the brand and its core values. Additionally, content needed to be considered more thoughtfully for the page to better serve as a home base, guiding customers toward its best products and services - all while tying into the theme of “human connection”.
Previous UScellular home page
Competitive analysis
PROCESS
Redesigning the home page to scale back on promotional content still required buy-in from a number of stakeholders including senior leadership, product managers, and partner brands. I started with a competitive analysis of other mission-driven retail brands such as Patagonia and Dove to show how they strike a balance between sales-driven content and their mission. This helped to show that it could be possible to demonstrate a commitment to the mission, while using the home page more effectively as a way to orient visitors, help them find what they're looking for, and avoid overwhelming them with promotional banners that may not be relevant to them.
SOLUTION
Home page redesign
The resulting content strategy and design gave more prominence to the company values, with the theme of genuine connection woven into written copy wherever possible, using modular content areas that could be periodically refreshed and expanded to accommodate new messaging. The new design significantly improved page performance, leading to a 48% improvement in click rate, a 15% improvement in conversions, and a 9% reduction in bounce rate.
Redesigned home page
Campaign landing page
The campaign landing page was designed with careful consideration of the mission - rejecting the distracting nature of tech in favor of a more focused, human-centric way of presenting the message. The dark colors, full-screen minimalist design, and imagery showing people interacting without phones all helped to focus the viewer on the content of the "manifesto", which spoke to the company's mission to promote less distraction and a more meaningful relationship with tech.
Interactive web app
An additional piece of the launch campaign involved creating the "Phones Down for 5" challenge, a mobile timer tool that encouraged users to take a break from their phones for 5 days, 5 hours, or even just 5 minutes. Print and web campaigns directed users to the web app, where they could start a timer tracking how long they went without using their phones, then share the results on social media to encourage others to participate.
Good Morning America feature
The campaign and related tools, such as the Smarter Start Toolkit developed in partnership with Screen Sanity, were later promoted in a segment on Good Morning America to further spread the word and encourage families, whether customers or not, to join the movement and use UScellular's tips for disconnecting.