The Den: a skate video streaming app
PRODUCT DESIGN
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
ART DIRECTION
WEB DEVELOPMENT
Overview
The Den is a start up and app conceptualized with a group of friends that, at it's genesis, is the go-to streaming service for skateboard videos. As traditional methods of consuming and sharing skateboarding content give no power back to the original brands, skaters, and filmers that create them, we aim to be built strictly by skaters for skaters. It’s our mission to build the archive of skateboard videos — from the classics that paved the way, to the latest buzzy skate parts and hidden gems. While we have seen success quicker than ever expected — having raised a small sum of seed capital and ad revenue, receiving over 19,000,000 downloads and 25,000 subscriptions since initial launch, and earning countless praise from the skateboarding community — this is an ongoing project that we envision a lot more for.
Responsibilities
• Visual identity, social content and growth strategy
• Wireframes, user behavior flow
• Web development
Early outreach & creative direction
The creative direction and design language behind the den is intentionally understated, placing emphasis on real photos and real skaters, as the skateboarding community classically distrusts outside ventures that are considered soulless or with ulterior motives. We are a community platform that is algorithm-free and curated by skaters. We want to make the den feel like a no-frills, unembellished, casual destination you can come to kick back and watch your favorite skate videos.
Part of the early stages of conception was to market this product and generate hype organically within the skate community. We connected with sponsors, organized events, and built a social presence surrounding mystique and allure. I created and posted a few ads on the company Instagram, as well as some goofy edits, to instill our brand voice.
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Product
Since this concept is generally uncharted waters, we had no preliminary user research or demographic analysis to base the early stages of the product discovery around, other than our own intimate knowledge of our community. Because of this, we had to iterate the UI as our consumer traffic took off, where we could read the market and conduct feedback on pain points and product enhancements. We built the product 0-1 and tested suggestions from our users along the way.
Notable product verticals and features include:
• User personalization and favoriting action
• Curated video playlists, "staff picks"
• "the den TV" - spontaneous 24/7 radio style video feed
• Soon to come: ability to make and share your own playlists and see others
