Initial observation
The digital experience needed to do more justice to a growing catalogue.
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Case study · Sector: E-commerce & Retail
More products should mean more opportunities. But when every new collection adds paths, categories, and decisions, customers take longer to find what they're looking for — and may give up before they ever reach out or buy.
A recognisable way of reaching clarity
More collections created more possibilities, but also more disconnected paths for anyone browsing for inspiration.
What relationships kept the problem in place?
Internal structure
Navigation that feels unnatural
Content kept piling up
Accumulated complexity
Discovery separated from contact
Lost context
The path from first impression to the real problem.
We didn't start by picking a solution. We started by testing whether the apparent problem was the right one.
Editorial reconstruction of the reasoning, based on the documented challenges, goals, and results. Not a literal transcript of the Discovery sessions.
Initial observation
The digital experience needed to do more justice to a growing catalogue.
First hypothesis
IncompleteThe main challenge might lie in how the collections were presented.
Why it looked right
The digital experience was the first point of contact with the brand, and it needed to reflect the same care as the collections themselves.
What changed our reading
Discovering a collection meant following paths that led nowhere in particular.
Finding inspiration and asking for information happened as two disconnected moments.
Every new piece of content added complexity to the navigation.
Why we changed direction
Presentation was only the surface. The path between content didn't follow the visitor's actual intent.
New direction
We stopped evaluating pages in isolation and started mapping the relationships between discovery, decision, and contact.
Deep-dive notes
What principle answered each pattern?
Principle 01
Principle 02
Principle 03
What changed in the way of working?
From
A catalogue that kept accumulating paths
To
A journey that preserves intent
Isolated collections
Related collections
Contact without context
Enquiries tied to discovery
Growth adds confusion
Growth preserves the journey
What was underneath the symptom?
Symptom
Too much content
Real problem
Invisible relationships
Principle
Show how each choice leads to the next
“A catalogue doesn't become confusing because it has too much content. It becomes confusing when it stops showing the relationship between what exists and what the person is looking for.”
Related idea
When having more options starts making it harder to chooseA bigger catalog should mean more sales opportunities. Past a certain point, every new option adds one more decision to the customer's path — and one more reason to give up halfway through.Explore the reasoningNext case study
Sector: Training & EducationWhen every new cohort brings back the same work all over againThe context changes. The method holds.