Xinyi Zhao

["shin-ee"]

Product designer with a visual design edge and fast-paced agency experience.

Xinyi Zhao

["shin-ee"]

Product designer with a visual design edge and fast-paced agency experience.

Xinyi Zhao

["shin-ee"]

Product designer with a visual design edge and fast-paced agency experience.

About me

Passions, hobbies...

About me

Passions, hobbies...

About me

Passions, hobbies...

Playground

Branding, Motion, 3D...

Playground

Branding, Motion, 3D...

Playground

Branding, Motion, 3D...

Resume

Resume

Resume

Email

Email

Email

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

Next Project

Next Project

Hudson Wilder – A Refined Shopping Experience Rooted in Craft

The redesigned e-commerce platform for Hudson Wilder brings intentionality and refinement to the digital retail space. Built for both visual storytelling and seamless browsing, the site highlights handcrafted tableware through curated collections, improved product visibility, and faster discovery.

team
Information Architecture
UX design
Branding

Hudson Wilder – A Refined Shopping Experience Rooted in Craft

The redesigned e-commerce platform for Hudson Wilder brings intentionality and refinement to the digital retail space. Built for both visual storytelling and seamless browsing, the site highlights handcrafted tableware through curated collections, improved product visibility, and faster discovery.

team
Information Architecture
UX design
Branding

My role

I collaborated closely with Hudson Wilder’s in-house creative director to design digital and physical brand assets. I focused on elevating the e-commerce experience, refining layouts, and improving navigation, to ensure the site feels as thoughtful and functional as the products it showcases.

My role

I collaborated closely with Hudson Wilder’s in-house creative director to design digital and physical brand assets. I focused on elevating the e-commerce experience, refining layouts, and improving navigation, to ensure the site feels as thoughtful and functional as the products it showcases.

My role

I collaborated closely with Hudson Wilder’s in-house creative director to design digital and physical brand assets. I focused on elevating the e-commerce experience, refining layouts, and improving navigation, to ensure the site feels as thoughtful and functional as the products it showcases.

My role

I collaborated closely with Hudson Wilder’s in-house creative director to design digital and physical brand assets. I focused on elevating the e-commerce experience, refining layouts, and improving navigation, to ensure the site feels as thoughtful and functional as the products it showcases.

Problem

Problem

Problem

Problem

The project began after the sales team identified a gap between online and in-store (POS) performance, prompting a request from the manager to update the website and improve the digital shopping experience.

While learning to interpret sales metrics throughout this project, the sales team generously walked me through key terminology to help me better understand the significance of different product categories. As a designer, gaining this domain-specific knowledge allowed me to more effectively identify user pain points and refine user flows with a clearer focus on supporting business goals.

Original Website's product pages:

Product listing and detail pages lacked organization for the "More to Consider" products and failed to capture the tactile, curated feel of the in-store experience.

How might we improve product cards and listings to better capture user interest and mirror the in-store experience online?

Research

Research

Research

Research

Website Audit

I set out to understand the navigation of current product pages and uncover why online performance lagged behind in-store sales, specifically focusing on the user flow from landing to purchase. My goal was to analyze the information architecture and identify opportunities for improvement.

⬆️ Reviewed every page on both desktop and mobile, and wrote notes for potential updates.

Uncovering Gaps Between Online and In-Store Performance:

A website audit of the product detail pages revealed a key challenge: the site’s purpose was unclear, caught between reflecting the brand’s curated, in-store experience and functioning as a streamlined, sales-focused e-commerce platform. This ambiguity led to inconsistent user flows and gaps in product discoverability.

Usability-related feedback was passed to the engineering team for quick fixes, while larger challenges, such as improving the browsing flow and clarifying the site’s information architecture, required deeper discussion. Balancing brand storytelling with driving product sales emerged as one of the most critical design questions.

Referring to Pinterest to Inform Related Product Strategy

Pinterest offers valuable insights into how users naturally discover and engage with visually related items. By analyzing Hudson Wilder’s Pinterest boards and similar home goods brands, I was able to understand how users associate products based on aesthetics, function, or lifestyle themes. This helped inform how we might structure the “related products” section on the website to better align with real user behavior and encourage deeper exploration.

Pinterest also highlighted the importance of seamless visual merchandising and the potential to link internal site content with external discovery platforms like Pinterest Ads or Instagram for broader engagement.

1: Understanding User Behavior
Explored Hudson Wilder’s Pinterest boards to observe how users browse and engage with home goods. Gained insight into how users discover related and extended product groupings based on style, use, and personal preferences.

2: Bridging Digital Touchpoints
Learned how to link internal website products with external platforms like Pinterest Ads and Instagram. Identified opportunities to drive product exposure and engagement through visual discovery platforms.

3: Competitor Inspiration
Studied how similar home goods brands organize Pinterest content. Analyzed how their visual merchandising and categorization strategies contribute to driving traffic and increasing product sales.

⬆️ While working on the website, I also helped attract more consumers by creating a Pinterest profile for Hudson Wilder. I focused on targeting keywords, tagging specific products in images, and organizing them into branded Pinterest boards. Since Pinterest has become an effective platform for advertising, this supported the brand’s outreach and visibility.

Design Process

Design Process

Design Process

Design Process

User Behavior Insight
- From analyzing Pinterest boards, I noticed that users often create themed arrangements for home goods.
- Color is one of the most intuitive ways people group and match items, even across different shapes and product types.

Internal Feedback & Design Rationale
- A teammate suggested consolidating same products with different colors on a single product page.
- This highlighted a need for related product suggestions to focus on similar colors or themes, rather than just variations of the same item.

Design Implication:
→ Recommend related products that match in color or visual theme, not just color variants of the same item.

⬆️ Categorize the ‘You Might Also Like’ products shown to customers after they view the main product

While working on product listings, I gradually built a mini product library, grouping items based on visual and functional similarities.

Add metadata and tagging to each product to make the library more scalable and searchable.
→ Tagging Ideas for Future Use
Color
Height
Translucency
Material
Texture
Use Scenario

This would allow future products to be easily categorized or cross-referenced using existing or new tags, streamlining the process for design updates and product launches.

Developed a streamlined sales deck template

Developed a streamlined sales deck template

Developed a streamlined sales deck template

Developed a streamlined sales deck template

As I learned more about business metrics from the sales team, I also took the opportunity to help refine their sales deck template—improving its visual consistency with the company’s branding and making the overall presentation more cohesive and professional.

Reflection

Reflection

Reflection

Reflection

Even though I was assigned to one main task, refining the website for better performance, this naturally required me to understand information from other teams and departments. Learning how to ask the right questions of teammates with different areas of expertise, and get helpful answers to validate my own work, was a big part of my growth during this experience. At the same time, since I sometimes needed input from others, they would also ask for my help in return. Balancing these “distractions” and knowing when to offer support, while still managing my main responsibilities, taught me valuable lessons in time management and collaboration.

Even though I was assigned to one main task, refining the website for better performance, this naturally required me to understand information from other teams and departments. Learning how to ask the right questions of teammates with different areas of expertise, and get helpful answers to validate my own work, was a big part of my growth during this experience. At the same time, since I sometimes needed input from others, they would also ask for my help in return. Balancing these “distractions” and knowing when to offer support, while still managing my main responsibilities, taught me valuable lessons in time management and collaboration.

Even though I was assigned to one main task, refining the website for better performance, this naturally required me to understand information from other teams and departments. Learning how to ask the right questions of teammates with different areas of expertise, and get helpful answers to validate my own work, was a big part of my growth during this experience. At the same time, since I sometimes needed input from others, they would also ask for my help in return. Balancing these “distractions” and knowing when to offer support, while still managing my main responsibilities, taught me valuable lessons in time management and collaboration.

Even though I was assigned to one main task, refining the website for better performance, this naturally required me to understand information from other teams and departments. Learning how to ask the right questions of teammates with different areas of expertise, and get helpful answers to validate my own work, was a big part of my growth during this experience. At the same time, since I sometimes needed input from others, they would also ask for my help in return. Balancing these “distractions” and knowing when to offer support, while still managing my main responsibilities, taught me valuable lessons in time management and collaboration.

Next Project: LayerLens

Next Project: LayerLens

Next Project: LayerLens

Next Project: LayerLens

Xinyi Zhao

["shin-ee"]

Product designer with a visual design edge and fast-paced agency experience.

Xinyi Zhao

["shin-ee"]

Product designer with a visual design edge and fast-paced agency experience.

About me

Passions, hobbies and more

About me

Passions, hobbies and more

Playground

Motion, 3D, and more

Playground

Motion, 3D, and more

Resume

Resume

xinyizhaodesign@gmail.com

xinyizhaodesign@gmail.com

LinkedIn

LinkedIn