BigCommerce
BigCommerceOne system, two brands that never blurred

BigCommerce

Designing a shared system for BigCommerce and Commerce, replacing fragmented page patterns with reusable components that preserved each brand's identity.

Role
Senior Visual Designer
Client
BigCommerce (via Huge)
Timeline
2025 · Under 4 months

BigCommerce needed a marketing site that could support enterprise buying decisions. Fragmented layouts and bespoke page builds made it difficult to present a coherent product story or reuse work across the site.

The brief covered two brands, Commerce and BigCommerce. I led design under shared creative direction with Marshall Foster and Tim Debrandt, developing a common system that supported distinct brand identities and could be recomposed in Makeswift.

BigCommerce and Commerce — two brands, one system underneath.

The competitive review highlighted an opportunity to make dense product information easier to evaluate. I focused the page structure on buyer questions, proof points, and clear next steps, with patterns that could carry across both brands.

Competitive review — comparing how commerce platforms presented capabilities and product value.
Competitive review — comparing how commerce platforms presented capabilities and product value.

We explored the brands' shared personality before developing the visual language, establishing where the system should align and where it needed to flex.

Brand personality, mapped — the positioning the system had to flex across
The visual moodboard — the mood both brands would share
The visual moodboard — the mood both brands would share

One system, two brands

The system had to work for the marketers assembling pages after handoff. Modularity, hierarchy, and narrative became practical requirements for each component and template.

I replaced rotating homepage messages with a guided sequence from customer needs to product capabilities and proof. This made the page longer, but kept the core story visible without requiring visitors to interact with a carousel. Scroll-triggered reveals paced that sequence.

The redesigned homepage in motion — scroll-triggered reveals preview product breadth as you move.
The homepage, rebuilt around proof points and clear CTAs — not a wall of features
The homepage, rebuilt around proof points and clear CTAs — not a wall of features
The same page, in context
The same page, in context

Components built for reuse

I built a shared library of semantic color tokens, responsive type scales, and recomposable templates, defining states, variants, and edge cases with engineering. Components needed enough flexibility to serve both brands without requiring a separate design and implementation for every page. Brand expression lived in how those parts were styled and combined.

One component library — cards, buttons, hero modules, and proof-point blocks in a single system.
Wireframes first — structure locked before surface
Wireframes first — structure locked before surface
Then three homepage directions, explored before committing
Then three homepage directions, explored before committing
Components that recompose — the parts both brands build from.
The shared palette
54 semantic tokens — raw values mapped to roles so nothing on the page is a magic number
54 semantic tokens — raw values mapped to roles so nothing on the page is a magic number
A carousel retained for browsing press and news items.

Consistent behavior, distinct expression

I defined common motion patterns for backgrounds and smaller reveals, then tuned their treatment for each brand. This kept behavior consistent while allowing the two sites to retain their own visual character.

The background system — gradients and fields tuned per brand
The background motion applied within the shared system
Moment animations — small reveals that reward the scroll
The animated brandmark

Adapting the story for mobile

I redesigned hero treatments and key layouts for mobile alongside desktop. That expanded the work for those sections, but let us preserve the hierarchy and product story within a smaller viewport.

Desktop and mobile built together — the hero engineered for each frame, not reflowed.
Desktop and mobile built together — the hero engineered for each frame, not reflowed.
The services journey, animated — one recomposable module
The same module on mobile — rebuilt for the small frame, not squeezed into it
The same module on mobile — rebuilt for the small frame, not squeezed into it

Making the system usable after handoff

I documented grids, spacing, and component behavior, then walked the team through the system. The handoff made both the reusable rules and the intended variations explicit.

The specs to rebuild it — grids, spacing, and component rules documented
The specs to rebuild it — grids, spacing, and component rules documented
A team walkthrough of the component rules and intended variations
A team walkthrough of the component rules and intended variations

Impact

Delivery scope and stakeholder feedback at launch; these figures do not measure downstream conversion.

Designing for the next page

The system's value was in what the team could build with it: two distinct brand sites from shared foundations. Designing for the people who would assemble future pages was as important as designing the launch pages themselves.

2
brand sites shipped in under four months
80+
responsive templates and components
100%
positive stakeholder feedback at launch
Deliverables
Homepage & page templates
Responsive / mobile system
Shared design system (tokens, components, type scale)
Motion direction
Developer handoff & QA
Team
Anthony Nguyen — Design & creative direction
Marshall Foster — Design & creative direction
Tim Debrandt — Creative direction
Ivan Ernesto Guevara — Development
Camille Kafesjian — Product
Rosie Sullivan — Product

BigCommerce case study

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