Baboon

CHALLENGE

Baboon is a travel lifestyle brand, emphasis on the lifestyle. Rethinken was tasked with extending the new brand into a site experience that seamlessly combined unique storytelling and commerce.

APPROACH

As a brand historically associated with the declining action sports industry, our goal was to create a revamped design system and shopping experience aimed at inspiring a broader audience.

We worked closely with its internal brand and eCommerce teams to develop a rejuvenated visual system that focuses on paying tribute to its rich creative heritage.

EXPERIENCE DESIGN

With continually shifting trends in style, cultural attitudes, shopping preferences, and social currency, we saw an opportunity to refine the Baboon brand through its digital experience.

By focusing on a brand-driven and product-centric user experience, we set out to build an emotional connection between the brand and the new generation of Baboon Stone fans.

Focusing on experience through responsive strategy.

The entire site is designed responsively with adaptations to the user journey across mobile, tablet, and desktop. Our goal was to provide the optimal browsing experience while maintaining the primary features and site content regardless of form factor.

Celebrating Baboon’s creative DNA.

We wanted to highlight Baboon’s creative personality and commitment to individual expression. These two aspects were critical to building a brand experience that united product and content. Heavily rooted in Baboon’s progressive, artistic roots, the graphic-heavy visual language utilizes bold textures, handcrafted details, dynamic image compositions, and organic module structures to create an environment that celebrates individuality and authenticity.

Establishing photography standards and art direction.

Baboon’s audience gravitates toward visuals that are candid and self-produced. Reflecting this street aesthetic, we adopted elements of collage and photocopy as elements to define eCommerce photography standards and product presentation.

Rooting the experience in visual discovery.

We wanted to create a guided site experience that was more visual and lifestyle-focused. After mapping the experience data and reviewing analytics, our insights urged us to treat category pages as homepages. Doing so helped provide more context and brand merchandising for the user during their shopping journey.

Building a brand community through content.

One of our primary goals was to build a proper home for the Baboon  community. We set out to broaden the brand’s reach beyond coastal cities by showcasing its dedication to creativity and exemplifying its brand philosophy of being “True to This.”

Blending content and commerce, the site enables the audience to connect emotionally with the brand and organically discover content, including behind-the-scenes moments as well as insights from its roster of brand ambassadors.