Zappos.com

Site Rebranding and Redesign

Zappos platform redesign overview — Updated core shopping experience built around consistency, hierarchy, and reuse.

Zappos interface system view — System-level approach to modernizing templates, patterns, and merchandising interactions.

Project Date Q1-Q2 2023

Role Associate Director

Client Zappos.com

System Focus Design system governance and template consistency

System Problem Zappos needed to modernize a legacy commerce experience while preserving loyalty among existing customers. The platform suffered from inconsistent patterns, outdated navigation, and repeated usability issues across core templates, creating friction for both shoppers and teams maintaining the system.

System Context

Zappos needed to refresh its core shopping experience in a way that appealed to new audiences without disrupting the habits of long-time customers. The challenge was not just visual modernization. It required a more coherent system of templates, modules, navigation patterns, and content structures across high-traffic e-commerce surfaces.

This work sat at the intersection of user experience, pattern governance, and large-scale platform consistency.

Key Constraints

Legacy navigation and outdated category logic
Inconsistent product listing and product detail experiences
High volume of usability issues across core commerce journeys
Need to modernize without alienating repeat customers

Primary Goals

Create more consistent patterns across core templates
Improve usability in PDP and PLP environments
Support broader customer appeal while maintaining trust
Establish a scalable foundation for ongoing platform updates

Approach

I led template and pattern design work across core commerce surfaces, using existing research, Baymard guidance, and stakeholder priorities to structure a more coherent shopping system. The focus was on improving repeatability, reducing interface fragmentation, and creating reusable modules that could scale across the platform.

Rather than treating each page as a separate redesign problem, the work aimed to create a shared set of rules and building blocks that could support consistency over time.

Template system notes — Template framework showing variations, shared modules, and core system dependencies.

Baymard reference materials — Reference guidance used to align the platform with stronger e-commerce patterns and usability standards.

PDP zoning diagram — Structural planning for a more organized and usable product detail experience.

System Design

The system design centered on consistency, hierarchy, and reuse. I prioritized the Product Detail Page and Product Listing Page as foundational templates, defining clearer zones, stronger information hierarchy, and more predictable interaction patterns across mobile and desktop states.

This work also helped establish a shared logic for how content, commerce, comparison, and support information should appear within the platform.

Existing PDP — Legacy product detail experience before system-level restructuring.

PDP wireframe — Updated structural model for the product detail experience.

Existing product information section — Older information layout that contributed to scanning friction and inconsistency.

Updated product information UX — Reorganized information system with clearer hierarchy and improved readability.

I used a mobile-first lens to organize the buy area, breadcrumbs, product information, and comparison modules. This helped ensure the system could support both constrained viewports and richer desktop merchandising while maintaining a shared logic.

Working with content strategy and product teams, I aligned interface structures with updated content facets and category logic, reinforcing the design system as a governance layer rather than a purely visual exercise.

Product information wireframe — Wireframe showing a more structured product information system.

Product information visual design — Visual application of the information system with improved hierarchy and consistency.

Product comparison wireframe — Comparison pattern designed to support research-heavy shopping behaviors.

Product comparison visual design — Refined comparison module showing how shared patterns could extend across the platform.

Governance & Adoption

A major outcome of the work was an upgraded component library and design system that gave teams a stronger shared foundation for building and extending the shopping experience. The value was not only in cleaner templates, but in creating reusable standards that reduced duplication and supported more consistent decision-making across teams.

This is what made the work relevant beyond a single redesign: it created a system others could continue using.

Impact

Final PDP design — Final product detail experience built on the updated system.

Final PLP design — Updated product listing experience with stronger consistency and hierarchy.

Final homepage design — Homepage expression of the broader platform refresh.

Final navigation design — Navigation system updated to support better wayfinding and structure.

The redesign established a stronger component and pattern system for Zappos’ core commerce templates and helped improve usability across the shopping journey. It supported a more coherent experience for customers while giving internal teams a better foundation for scaling updates.

The work also contributed to measurable business impact, including an increase in conversion rate and stronger consistency across merchandising surfaces and core templates.

Capabilities Demonstrated

System standardization and reusable pattern design
Design system governance across a large e-commerce platform
Template consistency across PDP, PLP, navigation, and homepage surfaces
Cross-functional alignment with product strategy and content teams
Scalable platform thinking grounded in usability and operations