Designing & Improving Global E-Commerce Platform
UX/UI
Japan Tobacco International (JTI) is the international tobacco division of Japan Tobacco, a leading international tobacco product manufacturer. The holding company is JT International SA and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and sells its brands in 120 countries. JTI brands include Winston, Camel, Mevius, LD, Logic and Ploom.
Problem/Starting Point:
Ploom is a modern heated tobacco device that responds to the discerning needs of today’s adult consumers seeking choice. Having already launched in multiple countries, JTI was on a mission to collaborate closely with experts from across the organization, in Japan and markets around the world to develop Ploom into a truly global product...
Process & Solutions:
As the project matured, JTI eventually opted to outsource all design aspects of the Ploom online marketplace. Buzz Brothers, an independent creative communications and digital agency based in Geneva, Switzerland, was eventually hired for the job. In time, the agency increasingly began to rely on freelancers for help - I was contacted by Buzz Brothers for support designing certain pages and features by building wireframes, and writing the corresponding functional specifications, which ressemble an instruction manual and serve as crystal clear instructions for developers. In the end, I worked with Buzz Brothers for nearly 4 months as if I was an employee, designing from-scratch and improving upon countless features that were later implemented on the Ploom e-commerce platform. This project was an interesting one as it not only allowed be to hone my web design skills, but also immersed me into an agency context, wherein many stakeholders contribute to a single project. This work structure makes communication super important - as such, I also gained signficiant experience using tools like Asana and InVision.
