Nespresso
Rebuilding a Digital Experience
Digital Experience & Design Systems Lead | Oct 2024 – Present
This work is currently being rolled out globally, so visuals are intentionally limited until launch is complete.
Nespresso was the next evolution of my work in Design Systems.After building and leading Design System platforms at Vodafone and Smart, I joined Nespresso to help strengthen its existing Design System across web and native experiences.But as we worked through the challenges, it became clear that many of the problems weren't Design System problems.They were digital experience and organisational problems.Fragmented markets, duplicated effort, inconsistent customer journeys and disconnected initiatives were making it harder to deliver a coherent global experience.That led to a much broader transformation.I became a founding member of Nespresso's Digital Experience Revamp, leading a cross-functional team focused on redefining the B2C web experience across 42+ markets, while aligning the Design System and a parallel B2B stream around the same foundations.
From Design System to Digital Experience
When I first joined Nespresso, my focus was the Design System.I worked on improving adoption, documentation, governance and alignment between web and app. We introduced clearer communication and used Omlet to measure adoption and understand the health of the platform.But the Design System was also exposing wider problems.Different initiatives were progressing independently. Markets were working in different ways. Customer journeys weren't always connected. A new CMS and brand refresh were introducing further dependencies.The opportunity was bigger than improving the Design System.It was to connect:Brand → CMS → Design System → Customer Journeys → Frontendinto a more coherent digital experience model.This was where my role evolved from Design System leadership into Digital Experience & Design Transformation.
Redefining the end-to-end experience
The Revamp wasn't about redesigning individual pages.We started with the customer journey.Rather than optimising isolated screens, we worked across complete experiences so Design, Product and Engineering could understand the relationships and dependencies between different parts of the journey.The initial focus was the B2C web experience, including the core journey from:Home → Product Listing → Product Detail → Add to CartThis gave us a practical way to establish the new experience model and test it against real customer needs.As we worked through the journeys, reusable patterns were identified and fed back into the Design System.So the relationship worked both ways:Product experience improved the Design System.The Design System accelerated the product experience.
Designing with markets, not for them
Nespresso operates across 42+ markets, so a global experience can't simply be designed centrally and handed over.One of the first things we established was a series of cross-functional workshops involving Design, Product, Brand, Engineering and representatives from key markets.These weren't traditional design reviews.They were alignment sessions.We used them to agree the future experience before designing individual pages, bringing market requirements into the process early rather than discovering them later.As the programme matured, the workshops became smaller and more focused, allowing faster decision-making while keeping markets involved.This became an important part of the operating model:Global direction + market input + shared foundations.The platform became something markets helped shape rather than something imposed on them.
From components to reusable experiences
As the Design System evolved, we deliberately moved beyond individual components towards reusable content blocks and patterns.Each block was documented with behaviour, responsive rules, implementation guidance and usage principles.This meant teams weren't simply reusing UI components.They were reusing complete content and experience patterns.Documentation became part of the product rather than an afterthought, giving Design and Engineering a shared source of truth and reducing dependency on individual knowledge.The goal wasn't to make every market identical.It was to create enough shared structure that teams could move faster without repeatedly solving the same problems.
Design, Frontend, Accessibility & Content
The Revamp was deliberately cross-functional.I led a B2C delivery team spanning:Design · Frontend Engineering · Accessibility · Content · User TestingThe focus was not simply to produce designs, but to bring these disciplines together around complete customer experiences.This meant working closely with frontend teams to translate the experience and Design System into real implementation, while accessibility and content were considered as part of the experience rather than added afterwards.My role was to connect these disciplines and keep the experience moving forward, rather than acting as the technical owner of each discipline.
A global Design System
The Design System remained a critical part of the transformation.I directed its evolution alongside the new brand direction and Revamp definition, translating the visual language into scalable UI patterns, components and frontend implementation.The system needed to work across different markets, products and technical contexts.That meant balancing:ConsistencywithFlexibilityand making clear where global standards should be fixed and where markets could adapt.The Design System became the foundation connecting the different parts of the transformation rather than a separate workstream.
B2C and B2B
Alongside the B2C Revamp, I also worked to align a parallel B2B delivery stream with the same Design System and experience standards.The objective was not to force B2C and B2B into the same experience.It was to identify where shared patterns, components and foundations could create greater consistency and reuse across both.This helped move Nespresso towards a more unified digital ecosystem while still allowing different business and customer needs to be addressed.
Testing and iteration
The transformation was grounded in continuous feedback.We carried out 38 user tests and used the findings to refine the journeys and the platform.Alongside this, we worked closely with 7 key markets and facilitated 10 major cross-functional workshops.The result was a single global template designed to scale across markets.These numbers matter because they show the scale of collaboration behind the experience — not simply the number of screens designed.
The outcome
The result is a new digital experience model built on shared foundations.The visual design is important, but the part I'm most proud of is what sits behind it.The experiences are being built from a common platform of:Design System → Reusable patterns → Content → Frontend implementationThat means future improvements can become evolution rather than redesign.Markets can focus more on solving customer problems because the foundations already exist.The programme is now moving into phased global rollout, with the new website and Design System planned for adoption across the markets through 2026–2027.
My role
My role evolved significantly during the programme.I started by strengthening the Design System across web and app.As the wider challenges became clear, I moved into the Digital Experience & Design Transformation Lead role and became responsible for leading the cross-functional Revamp team delivering the new B2C web experience.My focus has been connecting:Design
Design System
Frontend
Accessibility
Content
User Testing
Marketsand creating the alignment needed for those disciplines to deliver as one team.My role was to bring these disciplines together, define the experience and create the conditions for the teams to deliver it at global scale.
What Nespresso has taught me
The Design System is no longer the destination.It's part of the infrastructure that connects brand, experience, content, technology and delivery.The challenge isn't simply creating a better website.It's creating a global system that allows better digital experiences to evolve and scale.
What's next
B2B alignment — extending the Revamp and Design System across B2B experiences.Global rollout — supporting phased adoption of the new website and Design System across 42+ markets.App evolution — aligning iOS and Android with the new Design System.Exploring AI-powered delivery — exploring how AI can work with trusted Design System components and patterns to accelerate design and development while maintaining quality, accessibility and brand consistency.