Howler Bros
Born from the influence of music, surf culture, fly-fishing, and Western wear, Howler Brothers makes timeless apparel and accessories for any occasion. Whether walking around the block or surfing big waves, their product line is purposefully designed for folks looking to “Heed the Call.”
Challenge
Howler Brothers is a lively and vibrant lifestyle brand with a wildly passionate customer base. Filled with patterns, logo variations, changing color palettes, and frequent collaborations, the brand constantly offers new and exciting collections. Their previous site did not reflect the unique personality of the brand, making it difficult for users to shop the product line. The goal was to create an immersive and brand-forward e-commerce experience that not only captured the essence of the brand but also offered flexibility for their frequently changing artwork and product collaborations.
Approach
The project started by working closely with Howler Brothers to fully understand their brand persona and lifestyle. Shopify Plus was a great platform solution that was chosen based on their requirements. The goal was to create a new design system that leveraged reusable components to feature artwork and imagery in a way that fostered an emotional connection with their customers. These unique components made it easier to shop Howler’s frequently expanding product line through an elevated interactive experience. Another priority of the new site was to incorporate video vignettes and animation throughout the shopping journey.
An Interactive and Unique Shopping Experience
It was made a priority to design shopping components that were both interactive and unique. I created an innovative banner solution that allows the user to explore product color options through lifestyle and studio imagery simultaneously. Another unique feature is the inclusion of hotspots in lifestyle galleries to create quick shopping paths to products.
A Premium Product Experience
A large grid of product imagery with a full-screen zoom feature allowed for complete immersion into Howler Brothers’ unique product offering. I utilized flexible components with lifestyle imagery and video to tell the story of each product. Incorporating CTAs to explore full collections and adding a cross-sell feature reinforced a “no dead ends” policy on the product detail pages.
Product Filtering
The existing Howler Brothers site did not offer filtering options for their expansive product line. When designing the new site, it was determined that the category pages would require a variety of filtering capabilities while also maintaining a fully immersive shopping experience. The result was an expansive filtering system that can be toggled on or off as needed in an easy-to-navigate sidebar.