Product design
/
E-commerce
Redesigning SK-II’s DTC experience
Modernizing a luxury e-commerce experience to regain relevance with younger consumers
Overview
SK-II needed to regain relevance with younger consumers and reverse declining conversion. We redesigned the end-to-end e-commerce experience, paired with a scalable component library and updated visual content to modernize the brand globally.
Year
2019
Company
Huge
Role
Lead designer
Skills
Interaction Design
User Research
Design Systems
Website
What was the outcome?
Shipped a cohesive redesign of SK-II’s global DTC e-commerce experience that modernized the brand’s premium feel while improving the path to purchase across key surfaces (discovery, PDP, education, and trust). Stakeholders responded positively, and the new visual direction was rolled out across SK-II’s broader digital ecosystem. The visual overhaul contributed to uplift in engagement and conversion.
The challenge & discovery
SK-II is a luxury skincare brand, but its digital experience was losing relevance with younger audiences. Sales and conversion dropped, and the website no longer matched the modern premium perception the brand needed to project.
We needed to redesign the experience to do two things at once:
Regain relevance with younger shoppers (brand perception)
Make shopping effortless (conversion and repeatability)
The vision
After conducting workshops with the SK-II stakeholders and identifying insights from research, we proposed a redesigned e-commerce experience with a design library of components built to facilitate future iterations, as well as new visual content to transform the perception of the brand globally.
The findings would help guide our decisions as we also started developing new visual content for the site.
Having undiluted sessions where we placed the entire experience in the customer's hands was crucial in exposing early insights.
Research & insights
We grounded the redesign in iterative research across markets and stakeholder alignment, along with key persona data that we knew about the SK-II shoppers.
10
User interviews (US demographic), run as listening lab sessions
6
User interviews (China market), evaluating the JD + Tmall MVP shopping experience
6
User interviews (Japan market), evaluating the Rakuten shopping experience
Based on the findings we knew these were high-intent buyers who needs reassurance, proof, and personalisation without friction. We needed to make sure the site would deliver:
credibility early (proof, reviews, authority)
faster access to “why it works” (ingredients, claims, regimen fit)
content on skincare attitudes and use
a clear path from inspiration → purchase without detours
It also meant that the site needed a tight bridge from reviews and inspiration → product relevance → purchase confidence.
During the interview sessions we uncovered what fits, and what were gaps that would help us improve the experience.
The diverse digital ecosystem that SK-II helped us cross-pollinate findings across the rebrand as well as the digital experience.
User journey mapping
Sketches during an ideation whiteboarding session
Our solution & approach
Research and stakeholder alignment helped define what content appears where, and also helped us quickly identify some key principles we needed to keep in mind as we designed the features and pages.
Guide, don’t overwhelm
Reduce cognitive load for high-intent buyers
Prove efficacy quickly
Credibility and ingredients should be easy to access
Make inspiration shoppable
Editorial must lead naturally to product and purchase
Give a reason to stay Loyalty, exclusives, and trust reduce price-shopping exits
Our early studies across the other parts of SK-II's ecosystem helped us quickly identify what worked and what didn't from all content, visuals and interaction studies.
“I like how there’s a small clip of a model applying actual product to her face, so you can really gauge texture, application, and thickness, as well. The main reason I look at YouTube reviews is to see those things.”
Yen
(Quote from a participant)
These led to a cohesive revamp of the entire DTC experience, where we put all our findings into a solution that was tailored for our demographic
Discovery that feels curated (not overwhelming)
Our shoppers don’t just want a catalogue, they want guidance and inspiration. We designed discovery to feel like an editorial “best of,” borrowing familiar content-browsing patterns (similar to video streaming) so users can explore with momentum, not decision fatigue.
Product detail pages that balance desire and clarity
The PDP has one job: build confidence quickly, then make purchasing effortless. We used storytelling and high-impact imagery to create desire, while keeping purchase controls clear and persistent. Trust signals were embedded naturally in the flow so reassurance shows up exactly when users need it.
Living proof
Reviews and social proof help shoppers decide faster. Instead of treating them as an afterthought, we integrated proof points where users typically hesitate, turning validation into forward motion.
Multiple quick to purchase entry flows
We made it easy to buy without losing context. Whether users were browsing sets, reading editorial content, or comparing products, we added lightweight purchase entry points so they could commit the moment they felt ready.
Skimmable product education that still feels premium
We redesigned education into scannable modules with progressive disclosure. Clear takeaways first, deeper detail when needed. This supports confident decision-making without slowing down the experience and without hitting shoppers with a wall of text.
A cohesive design system
The brand went through a visual overhaul and new imagery was created. We also designed the new digital visual language to match the new overall brand direction and make it feel premium, modern, and globally consistent.
I helped design high-fidelity visuals and quick interaction prototypes, as well as contributed to creating a reusable component system and documented usage guidelines so designers and developers could scale the experience and iterate safely.
Outcome
The redesigned site improved SK-II’s digital perception and better aligned the experience with younger consumers. Stakeholders responded positively, and the overall visual direction was rolled out across the digital ecosystem. and the visual overhaul contributed to uplift in engagement and conversion.