e-commerce
Samsung Global
Redesigning Samsung’s shopping experience for Brazil and beyond.
| This page is a work in progress | |
| Project details | |
| When | 2013–2016 |
| Who | Fictive Kin |
| What | Design leadership, design systems, UX and UI design, front-end, information architecture, e-commerce. |
For two years, I was the primary designer on a major rethink of Samsung Global’s online shopping experience. Brazil was our testbed, and the cart our first challenge. This project was defined by ambitious targets, immense pressure and no margin for error. Progress required we navigate a mass of client politics, coordinate numerous partners across multiple territories, and quickly make sense of a Portuguese UI.
Although a significant challenge and immense responsibility, the project was a success and Samsung asked us to roll out the new experience across several territories.
Basket and checkout
Our first task was to rethink the entire basket and checkout experience. Although our whole team had e-commerce experience, we needed to unlearn and recalculate for an unfamiliar market. We uncovered many traits unique to Brazil and user expectations in that territory. Getting every detail right was crucial when success was to be measured against ambitious revenue targets.
Comparisons show how we brought some order to the chaos with a flexible but stern design system, and improved legibility across various screens.
To journey from chaos to a level of manageable simplicity, we invested significant time in understanding client requirements, third party limitations and customer mindset. We spent much time testing how far we could push the client team and partners.
Key to my role was improving consistency and legibility across every step. I was frustrated with the sense that an increasing number of UI elements and requirements had been thrown in by various teams, resulting in a hot mess of disorganised obstacles. I worked through a process of reduction and fought to have anything extraneous or confusing either removed or rethought. I ensured everything could breathe a little more, and I gave the checkout process more clarity and an injection of fun.
Categories
Once the basket and checkout were complete, we shifted focus to other core areas of Samsung Brazil’s shop, beginning with category pages. Much of the shop looked tired in comparison with competitors, and there was a desire to elevate products and make them feel more relevant and more covetable.
I did a lot of work identifying systems for configuration, such as colour and sizing selection, ensuring any ideas would be applicable across a variety of categories and products.
Presale and product pages
Presale pages would drive sales for newly-announced smartphone models, with each sale built around several levels of customisation. Rethinking product pages (PDP) was a significant undertaking, with an ambition to re-energise the display of critical products such as smartphones and TVs.
As with every aspect of the project, we needed to be mindful of consumer needs and expectations in each country. Every screen and user flow in every territory reminds us why it’s irresponsible to throw a set of standard UX principles at it and expect results. These screens are full of nuance built on careful research and testing.
Further work
The work for Samsung was far-reaching and multi-faceted. I’ll write more about some of the peripheral projects here soon.
