- Client: CondéNet
- Project: Flip.com
- Services: Creative, User Experience, Technology
- Platform: Web
- Design: What does this do?
User-generated content takes a huge step forward with Flip.com, CondéNet’s social networking site for teen girls.
Understanding the culture
When Condé Nast, one of the world’s leading magazine publishers, moved into the online world with CondéNet—a centralized hub where readers can access content from all of their publications— they wanted to build an exciting new place where the readers of “Teen Vogue” could express themselves creatively and socially.
The end product was flip.com – a social networking website allowing users to create virtual scrapbooks (or “flipbooks”) to which they could add graphics, photos, music, and original art. Flip.com differs from other social networking sites in that it does not use templates and makes the sharing of individuality and creativity fun, simple and rewarding – and it’s just for girls.
Understanding our demographic
CondéNet tapped Schematic to build a robust and imaginative application to support the level of effort teen girls were willing to put into their online lives.
Inspired by the idea of actual scrapbooking, Schematic worked to make the application as tactile as possible. Our technology and user-experience teams concentrated on offering choice, facilitating interaction and encouraging creativity.
Using Adobe Flex 2.0 and a variety of custom-designed user interfaces, we brought a new level of creativity to the online world of teens around the world.
Surprising ourselves
Flipbook has proven to be an overwhelming success, as teenaged girls have flocked to the site, starting clubs, making friends, and creating flipbooks about themselves and their world. But even we were surprised to see the level to which users are interacting with Flip.com and creating their own content.