/ WORK 2025-2026
Carnilove Part of the Vafo Group
MY ROLE
UX Lead & Design System
TYPE
Ecommerce redesign
Carnilove is a premium grain-free pet food brand operating across multiple European markets. Vafo Digital brought us in to redesign the full ecommerce experience from the ground up. Working with two specialist consultants, I led UX and product design across research, information architecture, a design system built to engineering specification, and a complete UI overhaul across 17 site sections. The site went live in 2026.
BY THE NUMBERS
20+
User interviews
5
Markets
EN, PL, CZ, SK, FR
3.5 months
Delivery
2,815
Design System Components
Discovery & immersion
The project started in Prague. I travelled to Carnilove's head office to meet the brand team, spend time in the culture, and visit the factory. Understanding where the product comes from shaped every design decision that followed. Alongside consultants from Product Organisation and an independent specialist, we ran stakeholder sessions across branding, engineering, and senior leadership to define what success looked like before writing a line of brief.
User research
We ran interviews with Czech and English-speaking pet owners, some existing Carnilove customers, some not. The goal was to understand how people shop for pet food, what builds trust in a premium brand, and where the existing experience was losing them. Findings were synthesised and played back across brand, engineering, and leadership. What we heard shaped the IA and the priorities for the UI.
CARNILOVE — RESEARCH SYNTHESIS · NOVEMBER 2025
TRUST SIGNALS
NAVIGATION PAIN
PREMIUM PERCEPTION
BUYING BEHAVIOUR
12
INTERVIEWS
CZ + EN
MARKETS
4
THEMES
"I know what I want but this site makes it hard to find. I end up on a product page and I'm still not sure if it's right."
Design system
The design system was the backbone of the project. We started from an existing system used across the Vafo Digital brand portfolio, taking the Pooch & Mutt system as a foundation and rebuilding it as a custom Carnilove version. It was aligned to the brand's visual identity while remaining interoperable across all Vafo Digital properties. Every component was built in Figma to React specifications, in direct collaboration with the engineering team to understand technical constraints and front-end goals. The system runs to 2,815 components across 2,358 sets and 12,503 variants. Reusing and adapting existing components significantly accelerated the engineering build.
"We brought Lean Otter in to move fast without relying on opinions. Lightweight research and rapid prototyping informed key decisions and reduced the risk of building the wrong thing."
Jack Hayes
Director of Growth, Vafo Group
Wireframing, prototyping & testing
With the IA defined and the system taking shape, we moved into wireframing and low-to-mid fidelity prototyping across all 17 site sections. Prototypes were tested with users, iterated, then refined to high fidelity. A second round of testing with stakeholders and users confirmed direction before moving into the final build phase.
UI design
The final UI spans 17 sections across 18 Figma files: landing pages, homepage, product listing and description pages, checkout and basket, subscription, account management, search, help pages, blog, B2B, pet profile quiz, login and account creation, liked items, header and navigation, and error pages. All assets were optimised and handed over to the Vafo Digital engineering team. I consulted on the early stages of the build to ensure a smooth transition.
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