ASOS Horizons was a conceptual project aimed at reshaping the digital experience on ASOS’ app and site, aligning with the company’s "Back to Fashion" strategy. The project sought to modernise the user interface and enhance customer interactions by focusing on creating a digital platform that better showcased products and reflected the ASOS brand personality. While the project is ongoing as of 2024, it has successfully set the foundation for future innovations and a more cohesive, user-focused design language across the platform.
Constraints & Challenges ASOS had not updated its digital platform in several years, focusing mainly on conversion-driven optimisation rather than a holistic approach to the customer experience. With the launch of the "Back to Fashion" strategy, there was a clear opportunity to overhaul the digital experience—not just for functionality, but to better align with ASOS’ brand, offer an inspiring journey for users, and showcase products in a more effective way. The challenge was to develop a unified, strategic vision that could be embraced across the business and set the direction for future digital improvements, all while maintaining a seamless and engaging customer experience.
Approach
To establish this vision, we took a research-led, collaborative approach, ensuring both customer and business needs were represented. We conducted extensive qualitative research, including face-to-face customer interviews, competitor analysis, and stakeholder workshops with key teams such as Studios, Product, and Tech.
From this, we identified core insights: customers valued strong aesthetics but prioritised usability, product clarity, and flexibility in their shopping journey. These insights led to the development of five foundational design principles—Minimalist, Product-First, Contextual, Inclusive, and Recognisable—which would serve as a blueprint for ASOS' future digital design direction.
The Solution
We created a refreshed UI framework that aligned with these principles, ensuring ASOS’ digital experience was modern, flexible, and product-focused. The design system built from this framework provided consistency and scalability across the platform, supporting both immediate feature updates and long-term innovation.
Our work was divided into pre-defined customer journey areas—Engage, Explore, Evaluate, Buy, and Receive—allowing us to design and validate improvements iteratively. Working in four-week sprints, we tested and refined key UI elements, ensuring alignment with both customer expectations and ASOS' evolving business needs.
Results & Impact As of late 2024, the Horizons vision and design principles had been adopted within ASOS, forming the foundation for ongoing digital improvements. The design system built upon these principles was actively shaping new initiatives, ensuring a more cohesive and customer-centric experience. By securing buy-in from cross-functional teams, the project established a shared direction for ASOS' digital future—one that balances inspiration, usability, and brand identity.
*Figures based on forecasted projection
