September 2020 – August 2024 (4 years) / Melbourne, Australia

Manager, UX,UI design

At Koala (au.koala.com), a leading online retailer of mattresses and furniture in Australia, the US, and Japan, I was responsible for managing the design system and UX/UI across all global websites.

Global UX Design and Growth

Challenges—

  1. Global Consistency: How do you create a unified online design system while adapting to the unique cultures and customer needs of Australia, the US, Japan, and Korea?

  2. Localised Customisation: How can we improve tailored UX experiences that suit each country’s online environment, while building a trustworthy, engaging shopping journey for high-value furniture customers?

  3. E-commerce UX: How do you design a strategic UX journey that encourages customers to purchase multiple products at once, without relying heavily on promotions or discounts?

Key Contributions—

  • Global Design System: Managed UX design for each market, building a consistent and efficient global design system. Established a clear design vision and continuously improved and refined the system over four years, enhancing the purchasing experience for global customers and improving the CX for internal teams.

  • Startup Growth Experience: Contributed to one of Australia’s fastest-growing startups, leading initiatives through three major website overhauls that helped drive the company’s growth.

  • Design Leadership: Focused on purpose-driven design, guiding team members' growth while collaborating across departments to make thoughtful design decisions. I provided actionable design solutions to tackle complex and ambiguous business challenges in the startup environment.

Key Achievements —

  1. A Flexible and Consistent Global Design System

Our UX team developed a standardised system that maintained brand consistency while respecting regional nuances. We continuously updated the design system to reflect technological changes and evolving user patterns, ensuring the best possible user experience.

  • Component Library Development: Built intuitive component libraries, based on user testing, to deliver cohesive experiences across projects.

  • Figma Library : Utilised optimal design tools for rapid scalability and efficient feature implementation, while promoting collaboration and mentoring team members.

Using user-centered design systems and components, we provided tailored online shopping experiences for each market. Through user testing and A/B experiments, we analysed personalised data to address long decision-making cycles and low conversion rates typical of high-value furniture purchases, designing customised e-commerce experiences.

  • PDP & Checkout Projects: Improved product exploration and optimized the checkout process for a seamless purchasing journey.

    • Designed product detail pages that made it easy to compare and choose from various options.

    • Streamlined multi-option checkout steps to simplify the purchase process.

  • Bundling Project: Revenue-boosting strategies through UX.

    • Developed dynamic bundling and upselling features tailored to shopping patterns in each market.

    • Used personalised product recommendations optimised for each location to drive customer engagement and sales.

  • My Account Project: Improved customer experience (CX) in collaboration with CX teams.

    • Enhanced return, exchange, and order management functions for both customers and CX teams.

    • Provided a more convenient self-service environment, increasing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

2. Personalisation and Data-Driven Sustainable Growth

Contributed to ongoing improvements through precise data analysis, A/B testing, and user testing.

UX design—

My approach centered on user- and data-driven UX design, focusing on delivering actionable solutions for complex, ambiguous problems and proactively driving initiatives that create real value.

Every design decision was backed by data—setting initiatives, verifying them through A/B testing, and finalising results based on performance.

UX decisions were informed by A/b testing, user testing, customer feedback, and existing data to design optimal experiences.

Ecommerce design—

This process not only uncovers new possibilities but also ensures that every decision is data-driven from the start. I prioritise open and honest communication between developers, PMs, and stakeholders, setting clear timelines and providing detailed design explanations to keep everyone aligned.

About dynamic bundling, I designed the user experience to empower customers to seamlessly explore and discover products independently, facilitating bundle purchases without relying on extensive marketing expenditures. By strategically utilising existing components, we accelerated the launch process and quickly validated the feature’s market potential.

CX design—

Before starting any design, I conducted user interviews with those facing real challenges, shadowed internal employees, and held stakeholder meetings to define a clear direction. These insights were then translated into practical, actionable designs that solved real problems.

As designers, our primary users aren’t just external customers but also the internal teams who operate and manage the final designs. The goal was to optimise the customer experience while ensuring ease of use for internal staff.