Bobbin & Bumble
Designing for growth at Bobbin & Bumble.
Helping a small family business compete with much larger retailers through continuous product design, commercial thinking and data-informed decision making. Rather than treating the website as a one-off redesign, the work focuses on continuously improving the customer experience, increasing revenue and helping the business make better decisions through design.
The challenge.
Bobbin & Bumble had built a successful business with loyal customers and a growing product range, but the website had evolved gradually over several years.
New products, promotions and ideas had been added over time, creating opportunities to improve navigation, product discovery and the overall shopping experience.
Unlike larger organisations, every design decision carried commercial weight. There wasn't a dedicated product team or marketing department, so improvements needed to deliver measurable value while remaining achievable for a small business.
The challenge wasn't launching a new website.
It was helping the business grow without disrupting day-to-day trading.
Thinking commercially.
Design was only one part of a much bigger commercial process.
Each month, I review performance across Shopify, Google Ads, Google Search Console and GA4 to identify where design effort could have the greatest commercial impact.
Rather than relying on assumptions, decisions are informed by customer behaviour, search trends and sales data.
That work has included improving navigation, restructuring collections, redesigning product pages, refining bundles, strengthening internal linking, increasing opportunities for cross-selling and creating landing pages around customer intent.
Every recommendation is measured against a simple question:
Will this help customers find, understand or buy products more easily?
Designing the experience.
The website has evolved through small, iterative improvements rather than repeated large-scale redesigns.
Projects have included:
- Homepage redesigns and promotional campaigns.
- Product page optimisation and cross-selling.
- Bundle strategy and merchandising.
- Collection structure and navigation.
- Buying guides and educational content.
- SEO improvements and internal linking.
- Email journeys and customer lifecycle improvements.
- AI-assisted creative exploration and campaign development.
Rather than chasing trends, each improvement is designed to support the customer journey while contributing to the commercial goals of the business.
Beyond the website.
As the business has grown, my role has expanded beyond the website and into wider commercial decision-making.
Alongside improving the customer experience, I regularly review advertising performance, challenge agency recommendations, identify opportunities through analytics and help shape future product launches.
Working closely with the founder means design decisions are made alongside commercial decisions, ensuring user needs, marketing activity and business priorities remain aligned.
Outcomes.
The work continues to evolve, but design has become an integral part of how the business operates.
The work has contributed to:
- Increased average order value through bundles and cross-selling.
- Stronger organic visibility through SEO improvements.
- Better product discovery and navigation.
- More effective merchandising and promotional campaigns.
- Data-informed product and marketing decisions.
- A continuous product mindset rather than periodic redesigns.
Perhaps the biggest outcome has been changing how design is viewed within the business—not as something that happens before launch, but as an ongoing process of learning, measuring and improving.
Looking back.
Working with a small business has reinforced that good design isn't measured by how polished something looks.
It's measured by whether it helps the business grow.
Unlike large organisations, every decision has an immediate impact. That has taught me to balance user needs with commercial priorities, use data to guide decisions and focus on continuous improvement rather than one-off redesigns.
The biggest lesson I've taken from Bobbin & Bumble is one I've carried into every product I've worked on since.
Launching a product isn't the finish line.
The real work begins once customers start using it.