Explain the exchange.
Show what membership unlocks before asking someone to leave their shopping journey and connect accounts.
Nike Connected
Two memberships. One reason to connect.
2023Connected membershipProject Owner & Design Lead
- MY ROLE
- Project owner
Head of Product Design - SCOPE
- Journeys, UI, delivery,
testing & results tracking - PLATFORMS
- UK & France websites
UK app
THE PROJECT
I owned Nike Connected for Pro:Direct, from the initial kickoff at Nike HQ in Amsterdam through delivery and tracking results after launch. Alongside designing the experience, I oversaw the project roadmap and releases.
The project let customers connect their Pro:Direct and Nike accounts to unlock member benefits, exclusive products and experiences. I designed the entry points and journeys across the UK and France websites and the UK app, working throughout with engineering and presenting progress and results to Nike’s senior leadership.
Explore the processTL;DRContribution, delivery & impact
Two memberships. A connected experience.
I owned Nike Connected for Pro:Direct, from the Amsterdam kickoff through journey design, development, testing and results reporting.
- My contribution
- End-to-end project ownership
Oversaw the roadmap and releases alongside journey design, worked throughout with engineering and presented designs, progress and results to Nike senior leadership.
- What I delivered
- UK and France web · UK app
Connected the campaign, shopping and account experiences, adapting the routes to each platform and market.
- Member value
- A reason to connect
Linked memberships unlocked exclusive products, offers and experiences. My ownership continued with tracking results after delivery.
01 / THE OPPORTUNITY
A partnership only works
if customers see the value.
Connecting accounts was the mechanism. Relevant products, experiences and rewards were the reason to do it.
Customers could arrive from a campaign, a product page or the app itself. Some already had both memberships; others needed to create an account first. The design challenge was to make the benefit clear while navigating those different starting points.
Keep the thread.
Carry the customer’s intent through web, app installation, sign-in and Nike’s authorisation screen.
Make the scope explicit.
Separate the first release from broader loyalty opportunities, with clear entry points and dependencies.
02 / DISCOVERY
Build a shared understanding.
Then shape the experience.
The project began with several days at Nike HQ in Amsterdam, bringing the teams together to explore what connected membership could offer.
We also attended a two-day workshop in London with B+A, where we carried out user testing and worked on the strategy for connected membership. Across the workshops, we explored customer motivations, member benefits and the opportunity across both businesses. I carried that context into the journeys and entry points, translating the partnership ambition into an experience customers could understand and use.
B+A workshops, London.
Across two days, we explored how the partnership could support customers’ progress: what Nike and Pro:Direct could already offer, and what we would need to create to address the barriers footballers faced.
What the research brought into focus.
The customer and persona research came from focus groups held in different cities across the country, bringing together people of different ages and lifestyles. The London sessions with B+A combined user testing and strategy work, drawing on that research. I used the findings alongside competitor research to shape the membership proposition and customer journeys.
Make the partnership’s value explicit.
Participants in the running group questioned what Nike and Pro:Direct offered together and strongly associated Pro:Direct with football. This made a clear explanation of the partnership and relevant member benefits a priority for the experience.
Give membership meaning beyond a purchase.
The football synthesis explored how people stay involved as players, supporters and organisers. The opportunity extended to access, experiences and belonging, giving a wider context to the member benefits alongside exclusive product.
Reduce the work of understanding the offer.
Running participants described overwhelming choice and difficulty finding relevant information. The designs brought the benefits, connection steps and FAQs into a central membership page, supported by clear entry points in the shopping journey.
Explore the B+A workshop research
Customer and persona research from focus groups held in different cities across the country, exploring the needs of people of different ages and lifestyles and their perceptions of Pro:Direct and Nike. The research synthesis informed the London workshops with B+A. Open an image to inspect it.
03 / MVP & PRIORITIES
Give membership a place
in the shopping journey.
The entry point needed to explain why connecting was worthwhile at the moment it mattered.
I designed routes from campaign content, product lists, product pages and the app. Each needed to carry a different customer intent into the same account-linking experience, with a clear explanation of the benefits and the steps ahead.
My competitor review examined how JD Sports and DICK’S Sporting Goods explained the offer and connected accounts. In the proposal I presented to Pro:Direct’s directors, I set out the benefits, customer journeys and touchpoints, with a clear principle: keep membership promotion out of the basket and checkout so it would not interrupt a purchase.
THE TRADEOFF
Make membership discoverable.
Keep the shopping intent intact.
Entry points needed to explain the benefit in context, with a clear route back to the product or member experience.
04 / JOURNEY DESIGN
Different starting points.
A coherent destination.
I mapped the end-to-end routes so the handoffs between discovery, registration and connection could be reviewed together. Explore how the design changes with the customer’s starting point.
Start with the account they already have.
An existing app customer can discover the proposition, review the benefits, authorise the link with Nike and return to a connected membership state. The design avoids sending them through new-customer onboarding.
Discover Review benefits Authorise Connected
Explain the value before the extra steps.
For a new customer, the route includes app installation, Pro:Direct registration and preferences before Nike account connection. Mapping the whole journey exposes the effort involved, rather than treating the connect button as the complete experience.
Discover Install app Join Pro:Direct Connect Nike
Meet intent at the product page.
The product-led route explains connected membership alongside the item being considered. A benefit page provides context before the customer moves into registration and account linking.
Browse products Learn about membership Join Connect
Carry the product promise through the handoff.
The launch route starts with campaign interest in a specific boot. The proposed flow connects the product page, download prompt, onboarding and Nike authorisation before returning the customer to the product in the app.
Campaign Product App & connection Return to product
Bringing connected membership to France.
The France route takes customers from the membership proposition into their Pro:Direct account, through Nike authorisation and back to a connected account page. Unlike the UK app routes, it does not require an app download.
Discover Review benefits My account Authorise Connected
05 / THE EXPERIENCE
Make the benefit tangible.
Make the next step clear.
The experience needed to answer three questions: what do I get, what am I connecting, and what happens next?
I brought the proposition into membership content, product pages and the app. Shared benefit language and recognisable branding helped connect these touchpoints while leaving Nike authorisation clearly identified as a separate step.
Value before action.
Product access, offers, experiences and early access make the proposition concrete. Connection instructions and FAQs explain the process before the customer starts.
A visible choice.
The Nike handoff explains the account link and data permissions. The designs also surface disconnection, so the relationship is presented as something the member controls.
Show what changed.
The connected state confirms success and points towards products and upcoming launches. It turns completion into an onward journey.
Carry product interest into the app.
The exclusive-launch route uses a product-specific download prompt to connect the web product page with the UK app journey. Keeping the boot and membership proposition visible gives the customer context for the handoff.
The same proposition, a different route.
For France, I designed the connection and confirmation states within the website’s account area. The member can see the benefits before connecting and recognise the successful connection afterward.
06 / DELIVERY & VALIDATION
Own the experience
through delivery.
I worked throughout with engineering and development, overseeing how the experience would work, look and behave.
My ownership extended beyond the design files. I oversaw testing and kept the journeys, implementation and stakeholder conversations connected, presenting the designs and progress to Nike and its senior leadership team.
Roadmap & release oversight
I oversaw the project roadmap and releases alongside the design work, working with engineering and development as the experience moved through delivery.
Design & engineering
I worked with the development teams on the journeys and entry points, overseeing the experience as it moved from design into implementation.
Testing & delivery
I oversaw testing of how the experience worked and looked across the websites and UK app, with the account-linking journey at the centre of the work.
Nike & senior stakeholders
I presented the journeys and progress in further meetings with Nike, maintaining a shared view of the experience through delivery.
07 / MEMBER VALUE & RESULTS
Connection was the start.
Benefits gave it meaning.
The project connected membership across the UK and France websites and the UK app, giving customers access to exclusive products, offers and experiences.
I continued to own the project after delivery, tracking results and presenting them to Nike and its senior leadership team. That ongoing responsibility brought the performance of the experience back into the partnership conversation.
Design beyond the account link.
The boot-contract experience shows what connected membership could unlock. The designs cover the member’s next steps too, from confirming their entry to explaining what happens if they are selected.
MY TAKEAWAY
A partnership promise
needs an end-to-end owner.
My role connected the customer journeys, detailed design, engineering, testing and results reporting, keeping the member experience central from the first workshop through delivery and beyond.