Great Design is for Everyone: How Naked Wines uses zeroheight to teach the importance of design

Naked Wines is completely changing the way people buy wine. For wine drinkers, a monthly membership gives them access to high quality wines from around the world. And for winemakers, Naked Wines is an opportunity to innovate without the risk associated with traditional retail sales.

It’s a good idea. And, in 2020, they saw a huge influx of customers.

Today, more than 300,000 members (who Naked Wines calls “Angels”) use the service to discover new wines while hundreds of independent winemakers grow their businesses with the help of the company.

Now in its 14th year of trading, the company has come a long way from start-up to award-winning online retailer and the design team has been integral to it’s brand growth.

Changing the conversation around design

Centering design in the decision making process is fairly new to Naked Wines.

With such a big change, the design team knew they needed to find a creative way to get buy-in. So, Lotty Cheshire, Head of Design Operations, turned to zeroheight. It was her way to showcase how much value her team could provide.

She explains, “The design system shows the company who we are… a brilliantly talented group of designers with a wide-ranging skillset”

Vine, the Naked Wines design system, is set up to highlight her teams expertise. There’s an Insights section where viewers can find research, personas, and a customer journey map.

A separate category, called the Blog, includes key learnings from conferences and a monthly newsletter full of takeaways from customer conversations.

In sharing their knowledge with the company at large, Lotty hopes that the perception of design at Naked Wines will change. Instead of design being the last part of a task, she hopes they’ll be consulted earlier to help with devising the solution. She furthers:

“We’re trying to change the conversation. You don’t need to come to us with a fully executed plan. We have the talent to help you to find the best solutions.”

So far, Vine is doing its job. The initial feedback was great, and Lotty’s analysis of the design system on Google Analytics shows that her colleagues are continuing to visit their custom domain.

Onboarding a global team of designers

The design system isn’t just for other teams. It’s also being used as a powerful onboarding tool.

Lotty Cheshire, Head of Design Operations, explains:

“We have a section highlighting the tools we use, how we use them, and how to get the best out of them.”

Once everything was in zeroheight, Lotty was able to replace her one-off training sessions, which has made it easier and faster to keep a fully remote, global team up to speed.

She notes:

“It’s in one place…It’s faster…and it’s easier than me spending an hour with that person, especially if they’re in a different time zone. We have designers in Australia, Denver, and Napa, so we needed to figure out ways to become more asynchronous.”

For new designers on the team, seeing everything in one place has been a surreal experience. They’ve told Lotty that everything feels more professional, easier to find and it just works.

Helping the team utilize design assets

Perhaps the biggest impact of the design system at Naked Wines is its ability to get everyone on the same page.

When asked who is consuming the design system, Lotty answers:

“It’s a real cross-section of people and abilities. From new starters who are looking to understand the brand, to partners who need to know how to position our logo.”

Her team has turned it into a one-stop shop for all design needs with logos, a glossary, components, and brand guidelines.

The result has been that Naked Wines employees can find answers without the need of a designer.

Lotty notes:

“I don’t get asked for the logo half as much, which reduces the noise for our designers and allows our teams to get what they need more quickly.”

So, with lots of documentation from the team and a product that’s easy for viewers to use in zeroheight, Lotty was able to change the behavior of her colleagues. Now, they know where to look to uphold brand guidelines and find design assets.

Moving forward with great design

Largely, Lotty has gotten her wish. Design is a part of the conversation and the company is buying in to the shift.

And, she’s even prepared for how zeroheight will support future design-led changes.

She pointed out:

“When there’s an update to the wider ecosystem, like changing the fonts, we can send people to one place to explain everything rather than a Slack channel where it will probably be lost.”

Adopting zeroheight, and creating a hub for design, is helping designers at Naked Wines be a part of the conversation today and into the future.