Sneaker Marketplace
I collaborated with Cultivator, a two-sided marketplace that empowers creatives to design custom sneakers, market them, and sell directly to their loyal audience of followers. I led the design efforts to prototype and test this unique offering in-market with real customers. The result was a fully functioning e-commerce platform that successfully launched and was later acquired by Nike.
Role
Lead Designer
Industry
Retail
Team
5 Members
Timeline
2 Years
“The team helped us design and build an experience that was agile, able to pivot as needed, and at the same time, very much a scalable enterprise product.”
Build. Test. Refine. Repeat.
Over two-and-a-half years, we launched more than a dozen product campaigns with Cultivator. Each campaign embraced a "learn as we run" approach, moving fast and using every in-market launch to add functionality and improve the user experience incrementally.
What began as a scrappy, functional prototype evolved into a stable, polished product that Nike ultimately acquired and integrated into Nike By You.
Empower creative storytelling.
The Cultivator Creator Studio equips creators with mobile-friendly tools and support to design their sneakers and customize their storefronts for each campaign. I worked to ensure these tools were intuitive, visually engaging, and tailored to meet the needs of creators at every stage of the process.
Through multiple rounds of concepts, we refined the approach and landed on two strong options. The client ultimately chose the one with the least cognitive load for users, even though it required more development hours—they felt the trade-off was well worth it.
Create a story-driven shopping experience.
The Shop delivers consumers a fully responsive, story-driven shopping experience where they can explore the creators they admire, discover their stories, and shop the sneakers they’ve designed. I focused on crafting an engaging and seamless experience that brought the creators' narratives to life while making it easy for consumers to connect and shop.
Build a new brand experience from the ground up.
I led the design process from start to finish, creating a comprehensive design system from the ground up for the Cultivator brand. I collaborated closely with developers to manage and build both the front-end and back-end of the platform, oversaw the creation of marketing materials, and worked with Nike’s internal product team to ensure a seamless transition when Nike acquired Cultivator.
