Industry
E-Commerce
Client
Nike
Context
Nike partnered with Nykaa to launch their services and apps in India.
//The Firefighting
The entire go-live was supposed to happen in 3 Months. All the teams had worked meticulously to deliver everything on time.
For this reason, it was decided to clone the current Nykaa Fashion App.
In doing so, we came across numerous constraints. It was a race against time, and the teams did an AMAZING job designing and setting up the app flows.
In the final two weeks before the targeted release, the project required building the home and shop pages in accordance with Nike’s global design guidelines.
We had to do this using Nykaa’s existing "Display Network" - a complex, server-driven UI and CMS that I had previously helped develop.
Given my deep familiarity with configuring these homepage widgets, parameters, and recommendation logic, I was pulled in to ensure the final build was pixel-perfect and ready for scale.
Challenge
Brand Rigidity vs. System Constraints
//What are even constraints?
Brand language is non-negotiable. However, Nykaa's existing CMS widgets weren't natively designed to accommodate all of Nike's specific visual requirements.
To bridge this gap, we had to build and integrate custom features practically overnight.
The working style created significant friction. The development team was already working around the clock and running on fumes.
Understandably, pushback arose: "If we don't build custom components like this for Nykaa's own brand, why are we bending the rules for Nike?"
After some convincing, all the stakeholders agreed that "design" is not to be compromised and we built all the features needed for this release.
My Role
Designer, PM, Executioner
//Spider Man
With great power comes great responsibility. I happened to be the only designer who knew in and out of Display Network.
While my core background is in Product Design, the demands of this launch required me to operate at the intersection of design, product management, and integration.
Navigating Team Fatigue with Empathy:
The team was exhausted from all the dev they had already done, and a few inconsistencies with Nike were let go of.
However, in the case of home and shop pages, adherence to the guidelines was very, very strict. Instead of just handing off requirements, I sat down with the engineers to explain the "why".I walked them through Nike's strict global brand guidelines, helping the team understand that these nuances weren't just design preferences but critical contractual requirements for the partnership. Securing their buy-in was just as important as the code itself.
Deep System Expertise:
I leveraged my knowledge of the Display Network to get the pages configured. I managed the parameters, image uploads, and data logic, ensuring our CMS could handle the incoming scale without compromising Nike's visual standards.Cross-Functional Orchestration:
I served as a hub for communication, coordinating hand-in-hand with Product, Business, Marketing, and Catalogue teams from both Nike and Nykaa to ensure everything works as expectedExtreme Ownership:
For two weeks, I worked late into the night alongside the developers and director-level stakeholders. I took end-to-end ownership of the final output, alongside Varanya Kapur, from gathering marketing requirements to conducting the final QC and UAT.
Dream Team
A Masterclass in setting up an app from scratch
01
Product
The PMs coordinated to ensure that the bare minimum features went live. From scoping to coordinating, negotiating and delivering to the Nike team required a mammoth level of coordination.
01
Design Team
Building the Nike India app from the ground up was a massive undertaking shared by a dedicated pod of 6-8 designers.
While my peers meticulously crafted the core app infrastructure—mapping out onboarding, payment flows, Product Listing Pages (PLPs), and Product Display Pages (PDPs)—my domain was global navigation, homepages, and shop pages.
Because the homepage served as the primary entry point and housed all of Nike's rigid, high-stakes marketing requirements, it became the critical path for the entire release.
The final "go/no-go" launch decision hinged largely on this final leg: translating the collective design vision into our complex Display Network CMS to ensure the standalone Nike India app was functional, pixel-perfect, and ready to scale.
03
Engineering
The engineering team's enthusiasm was on another level. Web and App devs were working in parallel, and the web team had quickly cloned the existing Nike site.
04
Catalogue, Legal, etc.
Building the Nike India app from the ground up was a massive undertaking shared by a dedicated pod of 6-8 designers.
While my peers meticulously crafted the core app infrastructure - mapping out onboarding, payment flows, Product Listing Pages (PLPs), and Product Display Pages (PDPs)—my domain was the global navigation, homepages, and shop pages.
Because the homepage served as the primary entry point and housed all of Nike’s rigid, high-stakes marketing requirements, it became the critical path for the entire release.
The final "go/no-go" launch decision hinged majorly on this final leg: taking the collective design vision and successfully implementing it into our complex Display Network CMS to ensure the standalone Nike India app was functional, pixel-perfect, and ready to scale.
Learning
I saw a Real Life Hackathon to Make a Business Go Live
01
Design Team
Building the Nike India app from the ground up was a massive undertaking shared by a dedicated pod of 6-8 designers.
While my peers meticulously crafted the core app infrastructure - mapping out onboarding, payment flows, Product Listing Pages (PLPs), and Product Display Pages (PDPs)—my domain was the global navigation, homepages, and shop pages.
Because the homepage served as the primary entry point and housed all of Nike’s rigid, high-stakes marketing requirements, it became the critical path for the entire release.
The final "go/no-go" launch decision hinged majorly on this final leg: taking the collective design vision and successfully implementing it into our complex Display Network CMS to ensure the standalone Nike India app was functional, pixel-perfect, and ready to scale.
02
Product
Building the Nike India app from the ground up was a massive undertaking shared by a dedicated pod of 6-8 designers.
While my peers meticulously crafted the core app infrastructure - mapping out onboarding, payment flows, Product Listing Pages (PLPs), and Product Display Pages (PDPs)—my domain was the global navigation, homepages, and shop pages.
Because the homepage served as the primary entry point and housed all of Nike’s rigid, high-stakes marketing requirements, it became the critical path for the entire release.
The final "go/no-go" launch decision hinged majorly on this final leg: taking the collective design vision and successfully implementing it into our complex Display Network CMS to ensure the standalone Nike India app was functional, pixel-perfect, and ready to scale.
03
Engineering
Building the Nike India app from the ground up was a massive undertaking shared by a dedicated pod of 6-8 designers.
While my peers meticulously crafted the core app infrastructure - mapping out onboarding, payment flows, Product Listing Pages (PLPs), and Product Display Pages (PDPs)—my domain was the global navigation, homepages, and shop pages.
Because the homepage served as the primary entry point and housed all of Nike’s rigid, high-stakes marketing requirements, it became the critical path for the entire release.
The final "go/no-go" launch decision hinged majorly on this final leg: taking the collective design vision and successfully implementing it into our complex Display Network CMS to ensure the standalone Nike India app was functional, pixel-perfect, and ready to scale.
04
Catalogue, Legal, etc.
Building the Nike India app from the ground up was a massive undertaking shared by a dedicated pod of 6-8 designers.
While my peers meticulously crafted the core app infrastructure - mapping out onboarding, payment flows, Product Listing Pages (PLPs), and Product Display Pages (PDPs)—my domain was the global navigation, homepages, and shop pages.
Because the homepage served as the primary entry point and housed all of Nike’s rigid, high-stakes marketing requirements, it became the critical path for the entire release.
The final "go/no-go" launch decision hinged majorly on this final leg: taking the collective design vision and successfully implementing it into our complex Display Network CMS to ensure the standalone Nike India app was functional, pixel-perfect, and ready to scale.