Project overview
The Challenge: Pelican’s previous digital experience failed to reflect its legacy, expertise, or full product ecosystem—leading to low engagement and missed cross-sell opportunities. Despite strong brand recognition, the site didn’t convey the company’s 40+ year heritage or mobile-first D2C potential.
The redesign brought Pelican’s promise of protection to life through a scalable, cohesive experience that educated, inspired, and guided users. Key goals included unifying the product ecosystem, telling a compelling brand story, clarifying the path to purchase, and creating flexible components to support future growth.
My Role: Design Lead, Creative Director, and Executive Sponsor
My Responsibilities: Led UX/UI from research to launch, defined design system and templates, partnered with cross-functional teams, aligned user and business goals, managed phased rollout with testing and iteration
Services & Activities: Research & Strategy, Product Design, Design System, Content Mapping & Strategy, Information Architecture, Design QA & Dev Consulting, SEO, Copywriting
Project overview
The Challenge: Pelican’s previous digital experience failed to reflect its legacy, expertise, or full product ecosystem—leading to low engagement and missed cross-sell opportunities. Despite strong brand recognition, the site didn’t convey the company’s 40+ year heritage or mobile-first D2C potential.
The redesign brought Pelican’s promise of protection to life through a scalable, cohesive experience that educated, inspired, and guided users. Key goals included unifying the product ecosystem, telling a compelling brand story, clarifying the path to purchase, and creating flexible components to support future growth.
My Role: Design Lead, Creative Director, and Executive Sponsor
My Responsibilities: Led UX/UI from research to launch, defined design system and templates, partnered with cross-functional teams, aligned user and business goals, managed phased rollout with testing and iteration
Services & Activities: Research & Strategy, Product Design, Design System, Content Mapping & Strategy, Information Architecture, Design QA & Dev Consulting, SEO, Copywriting
Project overview
The Challenge: Pelican’s previous digital experience failed to reflect its legacy, expertise, or full product ecosystem—leading to low engagement and missed cross-sell opportunities. Despite strong brand recognition, the site didn’t convey the company’s 40+ year heritage or mobile-first D2C potential.
The redesign brought Pelican’s promise of protection to life through a scalable, cohesive experience that educated, inspired, and guided users. Key goals included unifying the product ecosystem, telling a compelling brand story, clarifying the path to purchase, and creating flexible components to support future growth.
My Role: Design Lead, Creative Director, and Executive Sponsor
My Responsibilities: Led UX/UI from research to launch, defined design system and templates, partnered with cross-functional teams, aligned user and business goals, managed phased rollout with testing and iteration
Services & Activities: Research & Strategy, Product Design, Design System, Content Mapping & Strategy, Information Architecture, Design QA & Dev Consulting, SEO, Copywriting
The Need for a Redesign
Business Need: A unified design system and CMS-powered framework capable of supporting multiple product categories, future campaigns, and content updates at scale.
User Need: A seamless, trustworthy shopping experience that inspires exploration while helping users quickly identify the right products for their needs.
The Need for a Redesign
Business Need: A unified design system and CMS-powered framework capable of supporting multiple product categories, future campaigns, and content updates at scale.
User Need: A seamless, trustworthy shopping experience that inspires exploration while helping users quickly identify the right products for their needs.
The Need for a Redesign
Business Need: A unified design system and CMS-powered framework capable of supporting multiple product categories, future campaigns, and content updates at scale.
User Need: A seamless, trustworthy shopping experience that inspires exploration while helping users quickly identify the right products for their needs.
Discovery
Discovery
Discovery
Research & Competitive Insights
My team and I analyzed top D2C and eCommerce brands and conducted discovery to identify key focus areas. We completed stakeholder and user interviews, competitive, content, and product audits, journey mapping, and site architecture planning to uncover best practices for content, navigation, and storytelling.
Key Questions
We focused on how to educate and inspire users without overwhelming them, group products for better discoverability, and design pages that build trust and reduce purchase friction. We also identified key demographics to better understand user behavior.
Key Questions
We focused on how to educate and inspire users without overwhelming them, group products for better discoverability, and design pages that build trust and reduce purchase friction. We also identified key demographics to better understand user behavior.
Key Questions
We focused on how to educate and inspire users without overwhelming them, group products for better discoverability, and design pages that build trust and reduce purchase friction. We also identified key demographics to better understand user behavior.
Findings
We found that consistent templates and modular components boosted engagement, while lifestyle imagery, reviews, and educational content humanized the catalog. Cross-promoting accessories increased awareness and drove upsells across the site.
Findings
We found that consistent templates and modular components boosted engagement, while lifestyle imagery, reviews, and educational content humanized the catalog. Cross-promoting accessories increased awareness and drove upsells across the site.
Findings
We found that consistent templates and modular components boosted engagement, while lifestyle imagery, reviews, and educational content humanized the catalog. Cross-promoting accessories increased awareness and drove upsells across the site.
Ideation
Design Approach & Validation
I helped defined three guiding principles for the redesign: be legacy-driven, be scalable, and be educational. The solution highlighted Pelican’s heritage, used reusable components for campaigns and launches, and incorporated contextual content to help users make informed decisions.
Key concepts included category-level pages with lifestyle imagery and reviews, conversion-focused product and accessory pages, and flexible CMS modules that let content teams update campaigns without redesigning templates. I also created Content Purpose Guides to ensure consistent tone, hierarchy, and storytelling across all pages.
To validate the approach, I led two rounds of unmoderated user testing. Insights showed that users preferred clear product grouping, trusted educational content and reviews, and engaged more when accessories were cross-promoted. These findings guided refinements to templates, content hierarchy, and components, resulting in a cohesive experience that combined education, storytelling, and a seamless path to purchase.
Ideation
Design Approach & Validation
I helped defined three guiding principles for the redesign: be legacy-driven, be scalable, and be educational. The solution highlighted Pelican’s heritage, used reusable components for campaigns and launches, and incorporated contextual content to help users make informed decisions.
Key concepts included category-level pages with lifestyle imagery and reviews, conversion-focused product and accessory pages, and flexible CMS modules that let content teams update campaigns without redesigning templates. I also created Content Purpose Guides to ensure consistent tone, hierarchy, and storytelling across all pages.
To validate the approach, I led two rounds of unmoderated user testing. Insights showed that users preferred clear product grouping, trusted educational content and reviews, and engaged more when accessories were cross-promoted. These findings guided refinements to templates, content hierarchy, and components, resulting in a cohesive experience that combined education, storytelling, and a seamless path to purchase.
Ideation
Design Approach & Validation
I helped defined three guiding principles for the redesign: be legacy-driven, be scalable, and be educational. The solution highlighted Pelican’s heritage, used reusable components for campaigns and launches, and incorporated contextual content to help users make informed decisions.
Key concepts included category-level pages with lifestyle imagery and reviews, conversion-focused product and accessory pages, and flexible CMS modules that let content teams update campaigns without redesigning templates. I also created Content Purpose Guides to ensure consistent tone, hierarchy, and storytelling across all pages.
To validate the approach, I led two rounds of unmoderated user testing. Insights showed that users preferred clear product grouping, trusted educational content and reviews, and engaged more when accessories were cross-promoted. These findings guided refinements to templates, content hierarchy, and components, resulting in a cohesive experience that combined education, storytelling, and a seamless path to purchase.
Final Designs
The New Unified Experience
The final solution transformed Pelican’s site into a cohesive, mobile‑first platform that better reflected its heritage and product breadth. The new experience blended education, storytelling, and intuitive navigation to guide users seamlessly from discovery to purchase on any device, while giving the business flexibility to launch campaigns and updates without rebuilding core pages. My team and I delivered a unified digital ecosystem that included:
A comprehensive style guide and scalable design system.
Consistent navigation and page templates for better discoverability.
Category-level and product listing pages that guided users through a clear, educational path to purchase.
Flexible CMS-driven modules to support evergreen content, seasonal campaigns, and new product launches.
Results
Unified all product categories under a cohesive design system.
Improved the path-to-purchase, leading to stronger user engagement and higher conversion rates.
Increased awareness of accessories and related products, boosting cross-category exploration.
Established a flexible foundation, enabling the brand to adapt quickly to new campaigns and evolving business needs.
Final Designs
The New Unified Experience
The final solution transformed Pelican’s site into a cohesive, mobile‑first platform that better reflected its heritage and product breadth. The new experience blended education, storytelling, and intuitive navigation to guide users seamlessly from discovery to purchase on any device, while giving the business flexibility to launch campaigns and updates without rebuilding core pages. My team and I delivered a unified digital ecosystem that included:
A comprehensive style guide and scalable design system.
Consistent navigation and page templates for better discoverability.
Category-level and product listing pages that guided users through a clear, educational path to purchase.
Flexible CMS-driven modules to support evergreen content, seasonal campaigns, and new product launches.
Results
Unified all product categories under a cohesive design system.
Improved the path-to-purchase, leading to stronger user engagement and higher conversion rates.
Increased awareness of accessories and related products, boosting cross-category exploration.
Established a flexible foundation, enabling the brand to adapt quickly to new campaigns and evolving business needs.
Final Designs
The New Unified Experience
The final solution transformed Pelican’s site into a cohesive, mobile‑first platform that better reflected its heritage and product breadth. The new experience blended education, storytelling, and intuitive navigation to guide users seamlessly from discovery to purchase on any device, while giving the business flexibility to launch campaigns and updates without rebuilding core pages. My team and I delivered a unified digital ecosystem that included:
A comprehensive style guide and scalable design system.
Consistent navigation and page templates for better discoverability.
Category-level and product listing pages that guided users through a clear, educational path to purchase.
Flexible CMS-driven modules to support evergreen content, seasonal campaigns, and new product launches.
Results
Unified all product categories under a cohesive design system.
Improved the path-to-purchase, leading to stronger user engagement and higher conversion rates.
Increased awareness of accessories and related products, boosting cross-category exploration.
Established a flexible foundation, enabling the brand to adapt quickly to new campaigns and evolving business needs.
Impact
Impact
Impact
The Results
This project delivered a scalable design solution that drove real business impact. Its success led Pelican to hire us to revamp their B2B site, which we launched quickly using the same system, resulting in improved engagement, conversion, and brand consistency.
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Cart friction
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Cart friction
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Cart friction
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Conversions rates
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Conversions rates
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Conversions rates
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Mobile transactions
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Mobile transactions
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Mobile transactions
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