DE
BEERS

An engaging experience for one of life’s milestones, helping users design the perfect ring for their perfect partner.

Beautiful, informative, and shareable, the product alleviates buyer hesitation and even enlists the help of friends, family & De Beers ambassadors to validate the user’s choice of ring.

Agency
AKQA

Client
De Beers

Tasks
UI, IxD, Creative

Challenge

Online sales of diamond engagement rings were lagging, and insights from De Beers research indicated a key issue: potential customers lacked access to comprehensive information on the DB site to confidently purchase high-value diamond rings online. This knowledge gap forced them to seek diamond information elsewhere, often leading them to competitor sites.

Solution

We proposed a unified, user-centric prototype for configuring rings, accessible across desktop, mobile, and in-store touchscreen kiosks. This solution aimed to empower and reassure customers via context-specific educational content about their purchase's attributes. It would feature high-fidelity representative 3D models — unlike the current site and configurator — and augmented reality (AR) for true-to-life product visualisation.

Additionally, it would include functionality for sharing and gathering feedback on ring selections within one's social circle. Customers would be able to finalise their configured rings directly or collaborate with in-store De Beers Ambassadors for personalised adjustments.

Team & tasks

Team members
Global Creative Director
Product Designer (myself)
3D and Motion Designer

Tasks
Creative, storyboarding, brand exploration, UI design, interaction design

Time
2.5 weeks

“I don’t understand the 4 Cs”

Whilst we can’t stop potential customers exploring other diamond brands, we could make De Beers the final stop. How? By combining the research, configuration (selection), and purchase journeys into a cohesive and comprehensive experience so that buyers would feel confident enough that they understand what they are purchasing (it’s not often we buy diamonds!) and not seek info on competitor sites.

Challenge MAIN

Can we combine the research, configuration, and purchase / appointment flow for a more cohesive experience?

Insights from OUR surveys identified 3 additional challenges

  1. The eCommerce site had a cluttered UI, was not intuitive, and barely functioned on mobile screens

  2. Users have to browse outside of the configuration and purchase flow — potentially on competitor’s websites — to find the reassuring diamond information they need to make a purchase

  3. Potential customers would want to share the rings with their friends and loved ones for validation before making an expensive lifelong choice. And De Beer's ambassadors would like to review the configured rings and make amends in-person in-store.

Challenge 1

How can we simplify the UI and enhance the experience to be easy to navigate and understand (more intuitive)?

Challenge 2

How might we provide reassuring educational content to prevent users exiting the flow and encourage purchases?

Challenge 3

How can users share configured rings with peers for validation? Additionally, how can we extend this to include De Beers staff?

“THE RING CONFIGURATOR IS TOO CLUTTERED AND IT DOESN’T WORK WELL ON MOBILE”

We minimised the UI by removing distracting icons such as 'share, like, and download', as these functions would be integrated later in the user journey.

Focusing on one step of ring configuration at a time reduces cognitive load and allows users to learn progressively about diamonds and rings. Elegant UI elements enhance the dated design system, positioning De Beers in the luxury space.

A mobile-first approach was taken to the design, but it would ultimately scale to desktop and to touchscreen kiosks in-store.

The diamond, central to the experience

The UI places diamonds and rings at the forefront of the experience, centring them in all configuration stages. Important UI selections are elegantly wrapped around the central focus.

Making the design language worthy of the world’s Foremost diamond brand

De Beers' current digital guidelines lack user-friendly design elements. For instance, the typography — consisting solely of blue ‘Didot’ font — is not very legible.

To modernise and improve the digital brand style, several changes were implemented:

  • Introducing Futura as a secondary typeface for better legibility, particularly in smaller text sizes.

  • Increasing tracking on titles to enhance elegance.

  • Adding a gold accent and a peach tertiary colour for versatility.

  • Incorporating blue-ish-greys for body copy (hierarchy).

In addition to these improvements making the site easier to use (accessibility, better hierarchy), it also makes the De Beers brand feel more premium to reassure purchasers that De Beers is a trustable and industry-leading brand.

“I DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT DIAMONDS SO I’LL DIP IN-AND-OUT OF WEBSITES TRYING TO LEARN MORE — THIS MEANS IT TAKES ME AGES TO PULL THE TRIGGER”

We implemented informative overlays within the configurator, offering essential details on the 4Cs and other aspects of diamond engagement rings to facilitate informed decision-making without the user navigating away from the DB journey.

Enabling the USER TO sharE configured ring options for validation with TRUSTED friends, family and de beers in-store ambassadors.

this completed the journey of configuration and research to validation and purchasing / appointment— a truly cohesive journey that does not require the user to seek research and reassurance elsewhere.

THE RESULT?

WELL, the app was never greenlit, but it was so impressive it unlocked hundreds of thousands of pounds to ENTIRELY AUDIT AND IMPROVE THEIR Ecommerce site… which I solely performed on behalf of AKQA.

The product was initially conceived as a guiding vision (North Star) for De Beers, aimed at securing funding for further development and a public launch. However, the advent of COVID-19 in the UK resulted in the project being put on hold, thwarting its realisation.

Roughly a year later, although the app did not come to fruition, its influence was acknowledged. De Beers recognised the potential of design in enhancing the online experience and boosting sales on their underperforming e-commerce platform.

Subsequently, AKQA engaged me to collaborate with De Beers once more. My role involved auditing their existing website, utilising comprehensive quantitative analytics and research to refine purchase flows, improve access to information, and elevate the digital branding to align with the stature of the world's foremost diamond brand. An example of this endeavour is the redesigned online eCommerce store, featuring an updated ring configurator (pictured).