HMD Global is a Finnish technology company that designs, manufactures, and markets mobile devices under the licensed Nokia Phones brand.
When lockdowns slammed traditional retail, HMD Global was met with a challenge: their Nokia Phones online store was fragmented, existing only in a handful of markets, each running on a unique e-commerce backbone, bringing operational challenges.
Enter the objective: forge a unified, conversion-driven E-commerce platform with Big Commerce to power direct-to-consumer sales across all pivotal markets. As someone already in the operations trenches as a contractor, I was transitioned to the UX frontline to champion this pivotal change.
Team: Jaakko Haaparanta (Lead) & me // Design, Web, QA, Design System
The mission was clear yet mountainous: design an online Nokia Phones storefront that was user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing while navigating technical and integration hurdles. This was no small feat given Nokia's exacting design standards and the project's enormous scale — rolling out to over 80 markets in 35+ languages. All of these, while racing against the Covid-19 clock which demanded swift execution without a compromise on quality.
Design process: we began with alignment for clarity, then transitioned to wire-framing and sketching. Responsive design followed, along with CMS experience crafting. After finalising spec documentation, we handed off to the devs and underwent design QA. Post-implementation, we handed off to operations and integrated the solutions into the brand's design system.
Beyond the core shopping bag and checkout features, our design is centered on conversions. This responsive and reusable design is user-friendly and is enriched by findings from trusted research institutes. Crafted for adaptability, it ensures a uniform and smooth shopping experience for users worldwide.
We developed a fully responsive ecosystem with 20+ React components. This system goes beyond just adaptability—it's anchored in storytelling. Operated through a headless CMS by the global team in Finland, it's tailored to the specific needs of over 80 markets and is fluent in 35+ languages. This ensures each market receives content that truly resonates, portraying Nokia Phones' story consistently across the globe.
Our design philosophy stretches beyond the website. It covers marketing emails, campaign pages, and beyond. It’s scalable, modular, and tried-and-true. These designs have been put to the test, playing a key role in over 40 product launches in the last 3 years, showcasing their ongoing reliability and adaptability.
