Behavior Design, an interactive design firm, was retained by National Geographic Channel (NGC) to re-design and re-imagine their television channel home web site.
Behavior, in collaboration with NGC, drove the project with two core objectives in mind, first, to motivate viewer "tune-in" and second, to cultivate fan enthusiasm for NGC's leading non-fiction programming. As a leveraging goal, Behavior aimed to build a groundbreaking broadband companion to NGC's highly-acclaimed broadcast channel. The result is an immersive, image-rich user experience that engages the audience online and offline.
For NGC, Behavior created the industry's most innovative TV schedule. Instead of simply displaying a boring table with static text, Behavior created an interactive, pictorial module that allows users to drag and slide through the four week schedule, making it easier to browse shows. Viewers can smoothly navigate air dates and times (for all six time zones), read show descriptions, and watch video previews. In addition, users can opt to send themselves and friends tune-in reminders via mobile phone or email.
"Our design strategy was to find perfect balance between the typical web site's 'lean forward' user experience and television's 'lean back' model closing that proverbial '10-foot' gap between how we use computers and how we watch TV," commented Behavior partner Christopher Fahey. "We called our strategy the 'lean back a little' approach, to match the level of user engagement for NGC's dedicated audience."
Every NGC program features its own homepage allowing visitors to explore their favorite shows on a more intimate level. For example, fans who access NGC's most popular show, The Dog Whisperer, can peruse its dedicated blog and forum, view videos, check out upcoming events, read training tips, listen to podcasts, and more. A handy episodes pull-down menu clearly lists upcoming show titles and scheduling where users can click through to read an overview and view photos from that show.
Integrated into the site are hundreds of videos, photos and interactive features for each of NGC's hit shows and more. Technologically, the site's interface was built using cutting-edge Flash and Ajax, enabling the seamless user experience Behavior and NGC desired; search Engine Optimization (SEO) was a key design driver. Behavior's implementation permits rich browser interaction without sacrificing search engine visibility or user bookmarking and sharing.