MARRYING TECHNOLOGY TO USER BEHAVIOR: REI 1440 PROJECT

The genesis of the  REI was a handful of insights. The user insights: REI members LOVED to capture photos of their moments spent outdoors, and the loved sharing those photos and those moments with family and friends. The technology insights: People were capturing images with their mobile devices, and those mobile devices were capturing metadata about the time and location where those photos were being snapped as well as the images themselves. (This was in 2012, before Instagram or Snapchat had really taken off.)

Tapping into those insights, we created the REI 1440 Project. 

The site was able to scrub metadata to determine when each photo was taken and position it accordingly on a 24-hour clock where every hour was broken into 60 distinct minutes. When the site launched it was, by design, completely empty. But within days it was filled with tens of thousands of amazing photos. Ultimately we were able to fill every minute of the day with user-generated photography.

The campaign was recognized by award shows such as Cannes, One Show, D&AD, and Communication Arts. It was also a finalist for Adobe "Cutting Edge Project of the Year." 

My role on this project:

Initial user experience and design explorations

Leading the user experience and directing the efforts of our design and development partners (Resn, based in the Netherlands.)

Presenting the experience to the internal agency and client.

Year: 2012

BBDO Atlanta