The North Face

The North Face has spent decades outfitting people who go further — its digital experience needed to feel the same way.

From expedition gear to everyday outerwear, The North Face speaks to a wide audience: mountaineers, skiers, runners and people who simply love being outside. Online, that range had turned into a crowded experience where product, campaign and editorial content competed for attention.

We partnered with the team to rethink the experience from UX strategy and visual direction through to responsive design and development, with one goal: make every visit feel as purposeful as a day in the mountains.

Great products and powerful stories were there, but they were buried in a journey that felt heavier than the brand.

Years of campaigns, seasonal launches and regional content had left the site fragmented. Product pages, athlete stories and editorial features each followed their own rules, making it hard for visitors to move between inspiration and gear.

The challenge was to bring structure without losing spirit — a system that could carry bold imagery and storytelling while making it far easier to find, compare and buy.

STRUCTURE

Untangle product, campaign and editorial content into one clear, connected journey.

IMMERSION

Let imagery and athlete stories lead without slowing people down.

SCALE

Give regional teams a system they can launch every season with.

“Cerno understood that our customers don’t just buy jackets, they plan adventures. The new experience finally reflects that, and it’s made every launch since easier to tell.”

Elena Marsh

Director of Digital Experience

We built a sharper, more immersive experience across product, campaign and editorial content — designed to move like the brand.

We started with the journey, mapping how people move from inspiration to product and back again. Navigation was rebuilt around activities and conditions, so a skier, a climber and a commuter could each find their path in a few taps.

The visual direction puts full-bleed photography and confident typography up front, with motion used sparingly to add a sense of momentum rather than decoration.

Underneath, a modular design system covers everything from product grids to long-form stories, giving the internal team reusable components for every launch, season and market.

A clearer content structure and a more immersive visual system helped people explore products and stories with less friction.

With the journey reorganised around how people actually explore, visitors spent more time with both products and stories, and moved between them far more naturally.

The new system also changed how the team works: seasonal campaigns now launch from shared components, keeping every market consistent without slowing anyone down.

+38% ENGAGEMENT

A clearer content structure and more immersive visual system helped users explore products and stories with less friction.

+27% PRODUCT DISCOVERY

More visitors moved from editorial stories into product pages.

−19% BOUNCE RATE

Activity-led navigation kept more first-time visitors exploring.

2.1× LAUNCH SPEED

Seasonal campaigns shipped faster from shared components.