The problem… GQ has a digital presence in 11 wholly owned Condé Nast markets, yet each expression of the GQ product was very different. This created a fragmented user experience and erratic brand perception across the digital platforms. With no shared design language or tech stack each feature had to be built 11 times and to a different design and ux pattern. This resulted in varying quality of user experience, engagement and ad ratios.

The process

With the ground work laid by the Vogue work we followed a similar process to created a unified product expression for the international GQ websites.

Product discovery: Supported by design and user research, established personas and continuous testing we evolved a universal design language to bring the fragmented brand together, and communicate with our users more effectively. Through constant iteration and collaboration with market editorial teams and creatives we introduced new brand typefaces, ux journeys and patterns, together with a universal grid and ad map. The universal grid and ad map allowed commercial campaigns to run globally across the GQ product estate with one set of creatives.

Leveraging the Atelier design system: Sharing the same base components from the design system we created for the Vogue product we were able to build and iterate on the GQ design quickly. Ensuring that whilst the products share the same base componentry, that we were able to push them visually far enough apart to remain distinct to our users and advertisers.

A MULTI-PLATFORM DESIGN LANGUAGE: We extended the design language to all the GQ content on social platforms to create a holistic experience for the users wherever they encounter the brand.