Menu
The team at The Doe came to Green Stone with an ambitious mission: to build a digital publication intended to share anonymous narratives and promote civil discourse. Our challenge was to help design an internet platform that was a space to share honest narratives from different perspectives, while also building readership and momentum towards a sustainable business model.
Services
Product Management
Product Design
Design Systems
Marketing
Year
2020
Visit
thedoe.com
With a tight two month timeline to prepare for launch, the Green Stone design team integrated with The Doe’s core product and leadership team to quickly define the new framework of the new platform. We rapidly explored macro and micro ideas that were workshopped to make key platform-shaping decisions along with a product roadmap. From there, it was a sprint to design and build a flexible system that could be used as a foundation for the grand mission.
.png)
.png)
The Doe is a storytelling platform, so naturally the most important design template is the narrative page. We needed to come up with a simple system that could accommodate many different story types, lengths, and graphical treatments. With the knowledge that this would be the first page many new visitors land on, we also needed to design wayfinding and communication elements to encourage further exploration.
As with most Green Stone projects, we worked closely with developers and established a digital design system that looks fluid with many permutations, but is actually rooted in a few foundational building blocks and rules.
A flexible and expressive design system is good and all, but ultimately the success of the platform hinges on converting visitors into members. For that, we had to transparently communicate the purpose and value of The Doe, and give our readership ways to participate.
At launch, we debuted a founding member level that asks readers to pay what they can as a reward to early adopters and grow the member base.
We also collaborated with The Doe to design recurring email templates and strategies to be continually engaged over their Inbox.
All while not tracking visitors nor serving ads. Instead we helped create merchandising opportunities for members to rep and support the mission.
