Sun & Moon
A hub - sponsored by Jeep - that helps users understand the position of the sun and moon in the sky by breaking down complex celestial data in a user-friendly, digestible way.
The feature includes a graph that allows you to track the position of the sun and moon over the day, along with education about different moon phases, a tide breakdown card for coastal locations, and a striking stargazing graph with handy tips for the optimal conditions to gaze into the night sky. The redesigned experience resonated strongly with users - strong enough that Jeep® signed on as the exclusive sponsor of the entire Sun & Moon experience in early 2024, turning a UX improvement into a new revenue-generating placement.
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
2024
higher attention rates
higher click-through rates than standard ad formats
Jeep® harnessed weather to fuel leads and brand lift
Weather-based storytelling and AI-driven personalization help brands deliver emotionally relevant creative aligned with time, place, and mood. Jeep was no exception.
Jeep captured outdoor enthusiasts’ attention during their adventure planning routine by aligning messaging with real-time weather conditions.
From context-aware creative to seamless e-commerce integration, these capabilities work together to deliver more relevant, more effective brand storytelling.
User research
findings & results
User research showed strong interest in solar content, with 71% of users wanting sunrise/sunset times, 40% interested in celestial events, and 32% wanting notifications when conditions are ideal.
Interest in lunar content was also notable, with 52% wanting moon phases, 40% wanting moonrise/moonset times, and 35% interested in celestial events.
Together, these findings suggest sun-related content - particularly sunrise/sunset times - resonates most strongly, while moon phases stand out as the top lunar interest, pointing to clear priorities for what the feature should surface first.
Ideation
I mapped out potential solutions, used sketches to solidify thoughts, and illustrate how I wanted the hub to function.
Old & new
I had my work cut out for me, considering we were in the middle of a design systems’ refresh. Not only did I design net-new features for the hub, I also carried over existing functionality and components, plus reworked them to adhere to our new principles.
Entry Points
Users could enter the hub via a neat little module with a simplified version of the sun/moon graph, which lived on the app’s home screen. They could also access it via the Daily screen.
Business Outcome
Jeep sponsored the entire experience in early 2024. The Weather Channel has historically generated up to 70% of its ad sales through sponsorship and branded content elements, it was exciting to design a feature that contributed to this metric.