Curate, do not overwhelm
Editorial stories, popular collections and artist-led content give visitors a reason to continue rather than presenting one undifferentiated catalogue.
01 / Case study
Reframing a contemporary art marketplace.
An acquisition-led transformation of Art Republic's ecommerce experience—connecting artwork discovery, product reassurance and bespoke framing in one responsive system.
01 / Commercial context
Designed as a product worth acquiring.
Art Republic had been approached by Artfinder, a leading online art marketplace. The client commissioned a complete redesign to create a credible, fully realised digital product that could demonstrate the commercial value of the Art Republic proposition to a potential buyer. This was more than a visual refresh: the product, purchase journey and wider brand needed to feel coherent, mature and ready for market.
02 / Project goals
Business ambition, translated into design.
- 01Decrease bounce rate
- 02Increase average order value
- 03Increase conversion rate
- 04Improve the experience across devices
- 05Make the Frame Builder more intuitive
03 / Research signal
Passive browsing was the real friction.
“I'm literally just kind of scrolling through.”
That observation became a useful signal. The site presented a large, visually rich catalogue, but quantity did not always create direction. Visitors needed meaningful entry points—artists, collections, editorial themes and reassurance—so browsing could become purposeful discovery.
04 / Design principles
The system behind the gallery experience.
Let the artwork lead
Disciplined typography, spacing and interface controls keep the art as the strongest visual element at every breakpoint.
Make reassurance visible
Delivery, quality, framing and purchase confidence appear close to the decisions they support instead of arriving too late.
05 / Responsive discovery
One visual voice. Every breakpoint.
Desktop provides scale and theatre. Mobile preserves the same hierarchy, artwork and discovery rhythm without becoming a reduced copy of the larger experience.
06 / Key product feature
Making bespoke framing easier to understand.
The Frame Builder breaks a specialist purchase into a short, visible sequence: frame, mount and glazing. A live artwork preview provides immediate feedback while price and selection details remain in context.
07 / Ecommerce ecosystem
Four journeys. One coherent product.
Home, collection, artist and product pages each have a distinct purpose, but share one system of typography, spacing, colour and interaction. Visitors can move from inspiration to evaluation without losing orientation.
08 / Brand extension
Extending the product into a complete brand.
The acquisition package also explored email, social media and a printed art-publication concept. These supporting applications were not publicly launched; they demonstrated how Art Republic could move beyond the website without losing its character.
09 / Process
From structure to expression.
Wireframes protected the journey before the gallery character of the final interface was introduced. Research, content hierarchy, interaction detail and responsive iteration moved together toward one coherent product.
10 / Outcome
A live product with a wider commercial story.
The redesigned responsive ecommerce website and bespoke Frame Builder were launched publicly. Together they created a clearer model for discovery, a more understandable high-value framing decision and a consistent experience across the principal customer journeys.
- Publicly launched responsive ecommerce website
- Publicly launched bespoke Frame Builder
- Connected home, collection, artist and product journeys
- Supporting email, social and print concepts for the acquisition package