House of Heat: Redefining a Titan
From their beginnings as a platform to buy and sell sneakers in 2015, through a pivot to a user-generated sneaker mood board, in 2023 we launched House of Heat’s upgraded sneaker news website, with a fire new brand identity to keep bringing the heat to sneakerheads.
OVERVIEW
House of Heat is your favourite sneaker blog’s favourite sneaker blog, delivering news of drops as they happen, and giving sneakerheads the best chance to purchase. Despite being a relatively new player in the market compared to some of the legacy publications, in 6 short years they have made a name for themselves, with 70 million sets of eyes each month across social media, email and web traffic. As they moved to their next phase of evolution, they wanted a fresh, modern face for the brand, as well as an improved publisher site.
SCOPE
Brand identityUser experienceUI designFullstack development
RESULTS
3 months post-launch:Bounce rate decreased 94% YOYPages per session increased 103% YOYAverage session duration increased by 34% YOYImproved search ranking for ‘Jordan Release Dates’
A brand on fire
House of Heat has always brought the heat - it’s an intrinsic part of the brand’s name, values and the benefit they deliver to sneakerheads, day after day.
Our brand concept dialled up the temperature. Using the degree symbol, we created a bridge between sneakers, culture and hype. The brand language focuses around creating our own scale of heat for users to hype releases up in a simple but effective way - how hot, quite literally, is this drop?
The typefaces Dinamo Whyte, Whyte Mono, and Whyte Inktrap were chosen for their versatility, seamlessly transitioning between large, bold characteristics suitable for headlines and a highly legible state ideal for extensive body copy. Whyte Mono is employed for smaller details throughout the site, including heat ratings, buttons, and countdowns, providing the brand with both adaptability and ample personality.
The H symbol serves as an extended brand element, utilised to showcase countdowns leading up to imminent sneaker drops. Drawing inspiration from the countdown sequences of rocket launches (T minus five, four...), we implement a 24-hour countdown format represented as H-24:00:00, indicating the time remaining until the sneaker release.
Drawing inspiration from the vibrant energy of sneaker culture, we infuse bold and vivid colours across our brand, website, and app to reflect the essence of sneakers and their lifestyle. Every sneaker is assigned a distinctive bold hue, which in turn influences the visual theme of the website, imbuing each article with tones corresponding to the featured drop.
Streamlined UX
Our focus was to ensure finding footwear fast. We streamlined the UX, focussing on three key nav items - Releases, Culture, Brands. With 91% of traffic for the site rolling in on mobile, our hamburger menu remains mobile style, even on desktop, keeping it tight, fast, and focussed. Search is also instantaneous to give sneakerheads those precious seconds.
The release calendar is the most pivotal part of the platform, so we kept it focussed, filtering by month and brand. Users can also toggle between upcoming releases and those already dropped. Grid view gives a large view of the kicks in all their glory, while list view gives an overview at a glance, with quick links to buy direct from the releases page, without having to visit the product page. The ‘Buy Now’ button delivers options for both online retailers and aftermarket, with a note on current status, and direct links to the external product page.
On each sneaker’s page, logged in visitors can rate how hot each drop is, using our GIF-ometer to drive engagement. Single sign on through Google and Twitter makes this lightning fast. Each sneaker page also allows for updates as new images are leaked or release dates are confirmed. Sneaker pages are created as overlays, to keep sneakerheads in the flow and not lose their place - precious seconds are everything!
We wanted to grow House of Heat’s following, and so an uncomplicated and retro ‘mail-to’ lets sneakerheads subscribe in one tap to all the latest sneaker drop news. Both on site and in-browser notification for latest release news keeps Heat fans ahead of the game.
UI to break the game
Our UI concept aimed to break the game - the sneaker world is saturated with the same news so we wanted an unorthodox approach. This direction achieves that by offering an important flexibility between a modern interface with a smart UI dedicated to the user, but also a strong and singular identity with bold typography, subtle motions and a clear editorial grid.
Sneakerheads need to dive in to discover their ideal pair. To facilitate this, we make use of overlays and infinite scrolls, ensuring you never miss a new release and consistently find inspiration for your next coveted sneaker.
In order to enhance engagement from our sneaker enthusiasts, we crafted a voting system with entertaining feedback. Users rate the most anticipated sneaker releases, assigning them a 'heat' rating on a scale of 0 to 100. We then serve up corresponding GIFs to bring a smile to their faces.
