+22%
Conversion Rate post launch
- 13%
Checkout Bounce rate
⬆︎
⬇︎
Enhanced content flexibility for campaign teams
Stakeholder praise for strategic alignment, speed, and design clarity
Build a future-proof, emotionally engaging D2C ecommerce platform that consolidates four distinct Uvex brands into a unified digital flagship experience—designed from scratch to serve both functional excellence and premium brand storytelling.
Product
Webshop
My Role
Product Designer
Skills
UX Design
User Research & Testing
Stakeholder Management
Timeline
2021 – 2023
Collaborators
Cathleen Eberhardt, Lukas Bezler, Lisa Marie Peters
Users expect experiences from a brand
The Problem
The Uvex Group, a traditional German Mittelstand company and global innovator in protective gear, faced a key challenge: merging four distinct brand units into one unified ecommerce platform. Each brand had its own audience, tone, and internal stakeholders.
There was no existing shop infrastructure—everything had to be designed and built from scratch, including architecture, experience flows, and content systems.
This was not just a UX challenge—it was an organizational alignment mission.
Complexities
No legacy shop: design, architecture, and systems had to be built from scratch
Brand silos: Four different identities, tones, and product taxonomies
Fragmented product data from multiple databases
Wide user base: From casual buyers to B2B safety professionals
High need for stakeholder alignment across brand units
Research
I took a service-led UX approach to bring alignment, clarity, and purpose. Together with the client, I built an experience vision grounded in stakeholder buy-in, detailed user research, and iterative design. What it looked like:
Ran service vision workshops to align internal brand units
Conducted user research across target segments (sports consumers, safety pros, casual buyers)
Mapped experience journeys and designed new navigation models based on use-cases rather than brand silos
Introduced emotional and functional UX content formats: product finders, size guides, and bundles
Built a modular UI design system capable of serving varied brand expressions
Experience-led approach was essential for stakeholder buy-in and alignment
Complexity of product data and operational dependencies required an agile approach
Service vision workshops with brand divisions
Persona profiles & empathy maps
Cross-brand customer journey maps
Information architecture diagrams
Modular UI component library
Mobile-first wireframes and responsive UI design
UX writing guidelines and tone-of-voice framework
Personas & Insights
Lisa (32, Active Lifestyle Shopper)
Buys gear for cycling, skiing
Needs responsive mobile UX, sleek filters, clear visuals
Thomas (45, Safety Manager)
Orders PPE for teams
Prioritizes certification clarity, product comparison, and bulk ordering
Ayaka (28, Design-Savvy Casual Buyer)
Shops seasonal trends and accessories
Needs emotional storytelling, visual context, and lifestyle campaigns
Defining the UVEX Experience
Customers expect a modern digital flagship experience—not just a shop
Emotional storytelling builds brand trust, even in safety markets
Mobile is not optional—it’s the starting point for most users
Most users are frustrated by long and complicated checkout funnels
Our Challenge was:
Why should users prefer an e-commerce experience on a brand website over buying from Amazon or other retailers?
🤔
Process
We built and launched the first MVP within 8 months.
We conducted cross-functional workshops and involved brand teams early to define common goals and dissolve brand silos.
Our phased UX process emphasized collaboration, transparency, and rapid iteration.
Phase 1: Discovery & Alignment
Stakeholder interviews, competitive audit, UX maturity assessment
Shared service vision and cross-brand journey alignment
Phase 2: Research Synthesis & UX Strategy
Creation of personas, empathy maps, customer journey maps, problem statements.
Mapping pain points and opportunities across funnel touchpoints
Phase 3: Design & Prototyping
Low-fidelity wireframes, card sorting, early concept testing
Component-based UI design with scalable visual patterns across brands
Phase 4: Testing & Iteration
User testing sessions with moderated interviews and task success tracking
Checkout flow A/B testing and mobile UX refinement
Tools Used:
Figma, Mural, Hotjar, Google Analytics, Magento 2
Solution
The final solution was a future-ready, mobile-optimized D2C multi-brand experience built around real user needs and business scalability.
Core Features
Unified navigation structured by use-cases, not brand silos
Homepage as dynamic editorial space, personalized by season or campaign
Advanced product filtering and visual product cards
Interactive tools
Product Finder → guided quiz-based discovery
Sizing Assistant → reduces returns
Product Bundles → cross-selling made intuitive
Tech Highlights
Magento-based backend with out-of-the-box checkout
Progressive Web App architecture for seamless mobile UX and offline browsing
Component-driven frontend for scalable future growth
+22%
Conversion Rate post launch
- 13%
Checkout Bounce rate
⬆︎
⬇︎
Enhanced content flexibility for campaign teams
Stakeholder praise for strategic alignment, speed, and design clarity
"What we have built over the last months, to me is unique and the result looks amazing. Who would have thought that such a platform could be built in such a short amount of time. Every one has shown a maximum commitment to our story & our idea, going way beyond “the normal”… this round of people has become a great team…with their hearts at the right place."
Bernd Preuschoff, CDO uvex group
Takeaways
A modular design system enabled consistent user experience and operational scalability
Service design thinking helped align cross-brand business goals early on
Unique microservices (e.g., product finder) increased user trust and reduced returns
PWA is a good option for fulfilling native app use cases, especially with Magento’s Venia project.
