Can Design Consistency Be Maintained Across Multiple Brand Sites?

Tools: Figma • ZenhuB • AHREFS

Skills: UX Research • Web Design • Prototyping • SEO Optimization

Note: For confidentiality purposes, all industry details, company names, brand names, and store names have been intentionally disguised. All visuals used are mockups and do not represent actual company assets. This case study focuses on the process, challenges, and outcomes of the project while respecting proprietary and protected information.

Overview

As the sole UX designer at The Company, I’ve been leading the design and development of websites for our 8 retail brands across 12 states. This project has been both challenging and rewarding, as it involves balancing unique brand identities, technical constraints, and user needs with creating a unified design system.

We’re also in the process of implementing a new e-commerce system to manage inventory and menus, which requires some stores to support both old menus (using iframes) and new ones. Despite the complexity, we’ve already launched about half of the sites, with more on the way.

I’ve been hands-on at every stage - conducting research, designing wireframes, assisting with QA, creating tickets, managing content in the CMS, and collaborating closely with stakeholders, brand designers, and developers. Post-launch, I’ve been focused on continued SEO optimization and feature requests to ensure the sites are not only functional but also competitive and user-friendly.

This project has been an incredible opportunity to create scalable, future-proof solutions that align with the company’s growth while delivering a seamless user experience.

Problem

The Company manages eight retail brands, each with distinct branding, but stakeholders wanted the websites to feel consistent under a unified company identity. At the same time, we are transitioning to a new menu system, which required the sites to support legacy menus (via iframes) while being hosted on a custom CMS. This CMS needed to allow the retail team to manage content easily while enabling developers to seamlessly switch to the new menu system when ready. Balancing unique brand identities, technical constraints, and future-proofing the system presented a significant challenge.

An organized list of states vs. brands in those states

Project Challenges

Existing UI elements on the new menus couldn’t be adjusted, so I had to create a globally consistent design that worked with both the old and new menu systems.
Navigating varying regulations and needs across different states.
Balancing this project alongside other simultaneous initiatives that impacted timelines (but that’s just life!).
Ensuring stakeholder satisfaction across eight distinct retail brands with unique needs and goals.

What I Did

With a tight timeline, the project had to move quickly, but I prioritized research as a vital part of the design process.

To start, I analyzed companies already using the new menu system, identifying what worked well and where improvements could be made. I also researched other e-commerce businesses with consistent designs across multiple brands to gather inspiration and best practices. This research provided insights that informed my approach to creating a cohesive yet flexible design for our brand sites.

Building the Site Infrastructure

To get started, I worked with subject matter experts (SMEs) and stakeholders to figure out what elements were essential to include on all the sites and what could be removed. This step was key to streamlining the designs and focusing on what mattered most.

Next, I conducted a full site audit of all our retail websites. Using Ahrefs, I reviewed every live URL, identified which pages were actively used or SEO-friendly, and flagged outdated ones. I then reorganized and standardized the URLs to create a consistent structure across all eight brands. This included organizing the sites into three clear categories:

Single location.
Multiple locations within one state.
Multiple states with multiple locations.

This became the foundation for a detailed site architecture document that was reviewed and approved by the team.

Screenshot of the initial site architecture diagram

Wireframes

With the site structure in place, I moved on to creating wireframes. These wireframes balanced a lot of factors:

The need for shared and unique content across brands.
Insights from my competitive analysis.
Compatibility with our backend CMS.
Matching the unchangeable design elements from our new menu system.

Adding the Branding

Once the wireframes were approved, I focused on bringing the sites to life by incorporating the identity of each brand. This involved adding logos, colors, branding elements, imagery, and content specific to each retail brand. The goal was to maintain consistency across all the sites while still celebrating the individuality of each brand.

This step brought together all the foundational work - research, architecture, and wireframes—into cohesive, visually engaging designs that balanced functionality with brand personality.

Examples of the brand pages

Development

During development, I worked closely with the team to keep everything on track. I created detailed tickets in Zenhub, outlining what was needed to bring the designs to life.

I also took on the task of adding content directly into our backend CMS, ensuring the sites were populated with accurate information.

In addition, I actively participated in QA, testing features, identifying issues, and collaborating with the team to resolve them. This hands-on involvement helped ensure the final product met both user expectations and technical requirements.

After Launch

And just like that, the first of the sites were launched!

Thanks to strong project management and collaboration, the initial launches have been a big success. Now, I’m focused on supporting the development team as we work to launch the remaining sites. At the same time, I’m using Ahrefs to track site performance, making ongoing SEO tweaks to optimize pages and improve visibility.

I’m also actively designing and implementing feature requests to ensure the sites continue to evolve and meet both user needs and business goals as we move forward.

Outcome

By taking an iterative approach to design and development, launching the sites in cycles, we:

Successfully launched the new menus in multiple markets.
Improved the usability of the legacy menus, ensuring a smoother experience for users.
Streamlined and standardized the brand menus across all eight retail brands.
Significantly improved the health scores of the first launched sites, boosting them from 49%-70% to 96%-99%.

These results have been met with overwhelmingly positive feedback from stakeholders, employees, and customers alike. The combination of thoughtful design, collaboration, and continuous improvement has ensured the project’s success and reinforced the value of user-centered design.