Project summary

Project details

Research and discovery

• Customer and Partner insights: Over time, research showed that there were multiple usability issues on the website, which were contributing to certain business challenges. The lack of some expected functionality and unclear structure were one side of the issue, and the visual design was another.
  • See some of their comments
• Brand team insights: The Brand team have been waiting for a few years for our website and app to be brought up-to-date with our newest brand identity (such as updating the typeface). Also, some of their work (such as photoshoot imagery) could be much better showcased across the users’ journey on our website.
  • See some of their comments
• CEO insights: Before starting this project, I also got the thoughts of our CEO about our website’s look and feel. She mentioned feeling that our website is very “Desktop-first”, lacks personalisation, and doesn’t fully give the sense of a marketplace. She also believed that it didn’t clearly show our brand values and personality.
• Benchmark analysis: I spent some time analysing the visual design and experience of other e-commerce websites (such as Fortnum and Mason, Wolf and Badger, Liberty, Net-a-porter, and others) to identify common best practices, get inspired and compare and contrast functionality and user expectations.
  • Inspiration for “Modern warmth” direction
  • Inspiration for “Heritage elegance” direction
  • Inspiration for “Playful artisan” direction
• Cross-team collaboration: Worked closely with the Brand team and the Head of Product and Design to polish up the design concepts before presenting them to the Senior Leadership Team and other stakeholders.

Design process

Design strategy exploration

Three potential design directions were proposed:

1. Modern warmth: Balance approachability with professionalism, making users feel confident in their purchase while supporting small brands.
   • View design
2. Heritage elegance: Emphasise the quality, craftsmanship, and heritage of British-made products. Position the marketplace as a premium destination for discerning shoppers.
   • View design
3. Playful artisan: Highlight the uniqueness and creativity of the products in a way that feels fresh, fun, and engaging.
   • View design

Decision-making and iterations

• At first, I decided to explore multiple design directions to capture various ideas and potential avenues for the future of our website’s look and feel. This way, I could show stakeholders all the considerations made, rather than letting them wonder what other options could look like if they were only presented with one concept.
• Once I was happy with the first draft of the three concepts, I brought into the process the internal brand team and Head of Product and Design to review the concepts.
• Playful artisan was deprioritised due to limited customer resonance.
• Heritage elegance was selected as the preferred direction, with subtle playfulness incorporated where appropriate.