A full overhaul of a 30+ year old legacy tool and workflow that reduced task time by almost 90%.
ROLE
Senior Product Designer
TIMELINE
2 Years (2024-2025)
TEAM
1 Designer, 1 PM, 8 engineers
TOOLS
Figma, Miro, CursorAI
Overview
Nike, one of the biggest names in fashion history, has been a powerhouse in designing, developing, and innovating foot and sportswear for over 50 years. The legacy tools they've used hasn't changed much since.
This project's intention was to streamline and modernize product development tools to deliver on Nike’s promise of product excellence and sustainability.
I led discovery, mapped pain points across the existing flow, and was responsible for designing the product development platform while working closely with the product manager, technical engineer and engineer team.
The Challenge
Product Team Design Process
Research
Conducted user interviews and gathered feedback from demos and screen recordings to identify user needs and product opportunities.
Feature Scope
Met with stakeholders to define the feature based on research insights. We aligned on MVP priorities while also mapping out ideas for future iterations.
User Flow & Designs
Created user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity designs to visualize the experience. These helped the team align on structure, interaction, and visual direction early.
Feedback
Collaborated with developers to refine patterns for performance and feasibility. Collected user feedback through prototypes to validate whether the design met their needs.
Final Designs
Incorporated input from users, developers, and stakeholders to finalize designs. Ensured clarity, consistency, and design system alignment for a smooth build process.
Build & Release
The dev team built the feature based on final designs. After internal QA and product review, it was released to users and monitored for feedback and improvements.
Research
Nike, one of the biggest names in fashion history, has been a powerhouse in designing, developing, and innovating foot and sportswear for over 50 years. The legacy tools they've used hasn't changed much since.
I led discovery, mapped pain points across the existing flow, and redesigned onboarding around progressive disclosure: show value first, collect detail only when it’s needed.
User Persona
Jackson
WHQ FOOTWEAR TECH DEVELOPER
Location
World Headquarters
Role
Footwear Tech Developer
Tools
Adobe PDF, PCX, PCM, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint
Collaborators
Footwear designers, PCC counterparts, Category teammates
Ensures the FW product is hitting the brief according to what marketing and design have defined
Communicates to the product team the cost drivers and inform/influence product teams for any necessary cost value trade-offs
Delivers maximum product value to the consumer ensuring every penny spent is deliberate
What's working
Great teammates.
Macros are fantastic in the CBD to find things quickly
The CBD's excel version is you can customize the sheet to look at the most relevant information.
What's NOT working
Unable to provide the complete costing picture of material and labor.
Frustrated by the overwhelming amount of data that don't need
Need to be proactive versus reactive with product costs.
Getting the Previous CBD is not possible, so it is hard to make a comparison with the old ones
After CDA, now its only me (costing), instead of collaborating with someone else (costing engineers)
It is hard to make updates on one material price and seeing the change
Hi-fidelity Designs
DASHBOARD
DETAIL PAGE / SCENARIO PLANNING
Prototype
Future State
Result
MODERN UI
CENTRALIZED DATA
IN-TOOL COLLABORATION
Impact Metrics
13,000+
Users
66%+
NPS Score Increase
8x Faster
Time spent
Millions+
Saved in costs
User Testimonials
“I like the clean formatting & easy navigation”
“This will be really helpful in scenario planning and sharing ideas”
“I really like that all of my projects are in one place”
Reflections
PLATFORM POTENTIAL
Nike has been doing things a specific way for a very long time. Some of the processes are silo'd and some of the legacy tools are upwards of about 30+ years old. There are opportunities to not only update the working model for costing, but to also rethink and modernize the entire development space to allow physical product developers a space where they can do their entire job all in one place.
SME ENGAGEMENT
Engaging with subject matter experts is a delicate balance. While it's good to have user input during the design process, I've found that engaging with core users too frequently can hold back progress.
STAKEHOLDER EXPECTATIONS
When I came into this project, there had already been an effort to modernize the costing process. Once I joined there were timelines and expectations around design deliverables. Part of managing expectations was to have frequent syncs with product and engineering teams to discuss timelines and deliverables. This allowed for a collaborative and transparent working relationship.