Building a modular platform and aligning 50+ dealerships — and integrating it into a massive digital experience. Tried, user-tested, and true.

Who hasn’t heard of Audi? The esteemed brand was born in Ingolstadt, Germany in 1932, and is now one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. Audi is an undeniable powerhouse - they design, engineer, produce, market, and distribute luxury vehicles in nine production facilities across the globe.

My friends at BIMM have been working for Audi for years. In search of feedback, their team shared their upcoming product strategy for Audi. “What would you do?” I recall being asked. As ideas were shared, the snowball began to grow bigger. Within two days, I was standing in their boardroom in front of the Audi team, ready to pitch to one of the biggest luxury car brands in the world.

The prospect of challenge feels the way coffee tastes; it wakes you up, it sharpens your focus, and most of all, it makes you crave more. There are moments in life when you know you’re about to be a part of something big. This is exactly the experience from the moment I began working with Audi.

If closing the pitch was the qualifying lap, to start the race we needed to shift into high gear. Pun intended.

Historically, Audi dealerships across Canada maintain their own websites. Every site looked and felt different, was disjointed, didn’t make for an ideal customer journey, and it was hurting the Audi brand

Aligning 50 retailers to the same design and process is no small task. The automotive industry is unique - there’s a sense of history, of legacy even, with every effort put forth. As such, a solution was needed for Audi that went the distance without alienating the brand’s roots and loyal customer base. Furthermore, producing results that aligned with the notable standard Audi has long championed was critical for the success of this project.

As with every project, product planning is in the pole position.

Product planning exists for a critical reason: it set the tone and cadence of a project while creating appropriate timelines to work in accordance to. Organization is key with any project let alone a project of this magnitude.

Working with both BIMM and Audi, a unique agile process was crafted, identifying relevant phases and who would be working within each phase. Knowing that to successfully manage the communications between three teams would require deliberate planning; fully integrating with their scrum team and communication was daily via Slack. Sprint reviews and sprint planning frequently occurred on site. Ultimately, the management of the project would be paramount to its successful delivery.

To align 50 dealerships to one design and process. Part of the discovery phase was gathering all requirements from each dealer. The same then happened for the Audi team’s requirements. Lastly, our customer personas were defined and their needs uncovered and planned for. The information gathered was distilled into epics and their various expansions for future phases (V1, V2, V3, etc.). Taking the epics and mapping them out across our sprint cycles and various phases illustrated a clear path to launch.

Armed with a plan, it was time to start the user experience design cycle.

Strategy set the stage for the killer UX designs that would soon follow.

Initially, one of the biggest challenges encountered was working around base infrastructure - every dealership was different. Creating a flexible experience was vital to ensure every feature and user flow played together nicely - while allowing for specific customization. What was developed was an experience that felt new, yet still maintained the integrity of the original design language from the design team in Germany.

It began with landing pages. A sitemap of the entire audi.ca was first created to ensure that every integration possibility was accounted for and as seamless as possible. The objective was to showcase where the dealer landing pages lived within the ecosystem and to outline the integration of future functionality to highlight their touchpoints within the ideal state of the site. This helped create the MVP - the minimum viable product. An important stage in the development of UX, the site map allowed us to plan and communicate our plan of attack.

From there, user flows were created, crafted specifically to outline the interaction a user experiences within our intended ecosystem. From entry points to lead generations to conversions, it was all mapped out.

A huge part of the process involved thinking not only like the consumer but like a dealer. It wasn’t just about appealing to those who were buying cars - the sites also had to appeal to those who are selling cars. This intention influenced the work throughout the entire process.

Because the strategy was finalized, we arranged numerous workshops to further define our plan and Audi’s desired result. If strategy outlines the shape of the project, research begins to colour in the lines.

The phases and their sprints are a crucial part of the process; they allow us to work in organized blocks. Each block of time has a set goal. Within these blocks, wireframes were created and prototypes were built, and later, extensive user testing was incorporated into the process. Mobile breakpoint lead the way for design and once defined, the experience was then shaped for tablet and desktop.

The validation of the wireframes required the approval of both the dealers and the end-users. As such, the goal was to create the perfect sweet spot between desired functionality from the dealers and a clean and easy-to-use experience. Creating scenarios that tested each epic at the wireframe stage, user tests and interviews with various dealerships to ensure their needs were met. Utilizing their feedback and analyzing their behaviours informed the following sprints as that feedback was then incorporated into the designs.

Following the interface design phase, testing scenarios were crafted to ensure that the ideal functionality for the dealers was both intuitive and approachable by design. It was ensured that each customer type experienced the designs as a safe space for decision-making - after all, a car purchase is not a throwaway purchase. It requires time and consideration. This behavioural understanding informed the way each feature was presented, through every stage of the project.

Ultimately, thoughtful UX design provided users with a positive, impactful experience, supporting the overall customer - and dealer -  journey.

Over the course of fifteen months, a custom process was created for Audi Canada, delivering the unified dealer experience they were looking for.

Crossing the finish line is always bittersweet; proud of what was accomplished, feelings of elation were mixed with a note of nostalgia. A year and a half - give or take - sounds like a long time, yet felt like a blur.

Working side-by-side with one of the biggest car companies in the world to revolutionize the way users experience their brand is an absolute dream project and by simplifying the experience, Audi’s definitive authority was amplified within the automotive industry.

This project was completed under my leadership at Digital Natives.

Audi Canada

Rebranding, designing, and building an ecommerce platform from scratch on Shopify for a skincare brand with a cause.

As society has shifted to embrace wellness ideals and sustainable practices, skincare now goes beyond the stuff you smear on your face at night. Skincare is a ritual; it’s a way to care for yourself, and when you support conscientious brands, it’s a way to care for the planet.

Rolling with the tide is Yellow Beauty, a clean skincare brand rooted in ayurvedic principles, and dedicated to helping individuals define beauty on their terms. The philosophies behind the brand present skincare as a journey rather than an end result. Using turmeric as a star ingredient, Yellow Beauty is a collection of skincare products designed to teach people how to love their skin.

Partners Jaz and Jamil founded the brand in 2015 after a trip to Bangladesh where, after attending a traditional Haloud (Haldi) ceremony, Jamil was introduced to the healing powers of turmeric. In line with this ode to Jamil’s homeland is the shared mission that has served as the groundwork for the brand. For every purchase made, a share of their profits goes towards ending child marriage.

Yellow Beauty: a brand born out of love, but fuelled by purpose. The phrase “cool people doing cool things?” Jaz and Jamil to a T.

From the beginning it was obvious that working with Yellow Beauty would be meaningful on a variety of levels; a shared alignment of purpose, and their passion was infectious. Initially, the relationship began because they needed to optimize their marketing efforts, and as the working relationship grew and strengthened, the responsibilities did so too. But more to come on that.

Branding can encompass so many different ideas, which is why I want to take a moment to break down what branding means to me.

Branding is the foundation of every company. It represents a core, driving purpose. When a company or business operates from a place of intention and authenticity, they own their identity in an effortless way. The way they communicate, how they produce and consume, and how they interact with the world; it should come from a genuine place rooted in the heart of why they do the thing they do. It's simple, yet never easy. It's important, yet often misunderstood and unfortunately glossed over.

With every project undertaken, strengthening the foundational brand equity that has already been built is part of the goal. Branding is truly the essence of a company. It allows you to define who you are, and how you position yourself. Asking the important questions is necessary so that incredible products that align with a company’s interests, goals and overall identity can be built.

This is exactly what happened when Yellow Beauty was seeking to reinvigorate its brand in 2020. As their brand flourished, they sought to redefine its aesthetic and overall language.

To align on these principles moving forward, a branding workshop was arranged with the team at Yellow. The core characteristics of their brand remained the same; natural, sustainable skincare with a cause. What Yellow did want to shift was their messaging. Skincare by design often focuses on an aesthetic end result, and Yellow wanted to move away from this in order to focus on wellness and skincare in a more holistic sense. Your skin is your biggest organ, and skin health is so complexly intertwined with diet, sleep, and most importantly, your mental health. Yellow Beauty sought to evolve its messaging in line with these larger ideas, while also reflecting its growth as a company.

Understanding who Yellow Beauty is and what they stand for, brand design kicked off with the first step of the creative process: moodboards. Moodboards allow you to create a visual compilation to invoke the overall feeling of each possible direction. It allows you to spotlight colours, typography, hero elements, assets, messaging, tone, and more. After a moodboard - or a combination of two - is chosen, the intent behind the moodboard is translated into the beginnings of physical designs. And so begins the process of creating a brand's design identity.

16 iterations were crafted before arriving at the perfect sun that would set the stage for Yellow Beauty’s new logo. Choosing the sun as a symbol to represent Yellow Beauty’s logo was a no-brainer. The sun has long been a powerful source of symbolism, representing the consistency and comfort nature brings with each day. The sun represents warmth, renewal, and positivity. It’s a representation of a cycle - sunrise and sunset, both the beginning and the end. Skincare as a ritual follows this old-as-time pattern. We complete our skincare routine before we begin our day, and right before we go to sleep. With Ayurveda being such a strong foundation for Yellow Beauty, their logo had to instill this sense of wellbeing, and spiritual connection to routine.

Another theme chosen to represent the brand is turmeric. Because turmeric powers every product in Yellow beauty's skincare line, it felt right to incorporate visual elements to represent this healing ingredient. By recreating the lines of the root vegetable and using the end result as a design pattern we had a strong foundation for our brand assets. These wavy lines, as seen on turmeric, also look like sun rays, connecting the two design themes seamlessly. This pattern can be seen throughout Yellow Beauty's website, social media pages, and packaging, informing their design language as a whole.

Warm, earthy colours harmonize the design, allowing all the elements to come together.

Packaging design presented another opportunity to explore the assets in a new way. When you open one of Yellow Beauty's products, you will be greeted by a warm, fuzzy gradient of colour along the inside of the box. Why? Because small surprises spread joy, even if for a moment.

Overall, Yellow Beauty was given a unique design language that reinforces its purpose and inspiring philosophies.

When it comes to digital properties, brand design, as important as it is, needs a proper framework in order to shine.

Determining features, functionality, information architecture, and information hierarchy is the beginning of the UX phase. Gathering inspiration from market research while implementing detailed feedback informed the flow of the new and improved site. Large-scale photography, gifs, and other unique elements elevated the feel of the site, as well as its function.

At this point, Yellow planned to expand its product selection - which of course informed the UX of the site. Search had to be a high-functioning feature within the design. Additionally, the hierarchy of the “add to bag bar” needed to be prominent, a move that allowed the choice to purchase to always be visually accessible on all product pages.

UX paves the way for UI design. After the architecture of a website is complete, design can then be layered on top, championing key features and allowing them to stand out even more from a visual perspective.

Working with development partners, a customized Shopify theme was crafted all while working within the limitations of a standard Shopify plan. A standard plan can present challenges with a lack of functionality options. To avoid this issue, the custom theme was built from scratch, allowing for a completely custom site with the desired look, feel, and features. Furthermore, the site was built in a way that allowed the integration of necessary apps, like store locator, Instagram feed and reviews.

Designing every possible liquid template, the aim was to create a site without compromising Yellow Beauty’s end vision. No single landing page, product page or blog page went untouched. Acknowledging the limitations of the Shopify plan forced us to get creative.

In the end, Yellow Beauty was given a beautiful online store they can be proud to showcase; visually pleasing with the functionality to support our marketing goals.

Remember the excitement you would feel the night before Christmas as a kid? Or the day before your birthday? The days leading up to a new website launch feel a little like that, but with an added layer of (good-for-you) stress.

What’s special about the work with Yellow Beauty is that every team member had a hand in the project. We built an exceptional ecommerce store, defining Jaz’s vision in a way that went beyond her expectations. We created a unique design language in line with Yellow’s core brand ideals. And then we tied it all together and presented it to the world, via marketing.

Balancing a project with a number of moving parts is a shining moment for me. Throughout this project, we provided Yellow with the insights they needed to achieve large-scale success and will continue to do so because this is a brand to believe in.

Paul Crimi Product Design

Paul Crimi Product Design

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