Redesigning an Immersive eCommerce Experience for Tabletop Fans

The Challenge

Steamforged Games, known for creating narrative-driven tabletop experiences like Dark Souls™: The Board Game and Bardsung, needed a digital storefront that matched the quality of their physical products. Their previous eCommerce site was underperforming due to:

• Outdated UI lacking storytelling and brand immersion

• Clunky navigation that made product discovery and browsing difficult

• A major insight from user feedback: customers wanted detailed product specifications—such as figure dimensions, box sizes, materials, and component breakdowns—to make confident purchase decisions

The core challenge was creating an eCommerce experience that balanced immersive storytelling with clear, accessible product data.

Goals & Constraints

Goals:

• Create an immersive, brand-aligned shopping experience

• Improve usability and product discoverability across desktop and mobile

• Introduce detailed specification data for each game to support customer research and decision-making

• Drive measurable uplift in engagement and conversion

Constraints:

• Work within the limits of the existing eCommerce backend

• Ensure the site remained easy to update by internal teams

• Maintain consistency across diverse game lines with different lore, visuals, and packaging needs

Research & Discovery

I collaborated with the wider team to conduct:

• UX audits of the existing site

• Analytics reviews to identify drop-off points

• Interviews and feedback from frequent customers and new visitors

• Competitive analysis of top-tier tabletop and hobby brand websites

Key Insights:

• Users struggled to find detailed, game-specific information quickly

• Browsing between franchises and product types was unintuitive

• The site didn’t reflect the craftsmanship and lore-rich world-building the brand is known for

Ideation & Concepting

Based on our research, I led the ideation and prototyping of a new design system. Priorities included:

• A modular product page layout that adapts to different content needs

• A dedicated specification panel on each game page, listing all relevant dimensions, materials, and components

• Category pages optimised for scanning, browsing, and filtering across product types

• Visual storytelling components like full-bleed images, lore quotes, and animated hover effects to reflect the fantasy aesthetic

Wireframes and mid-fidelity prototypes were tested internally and iterated rapidly with marketing and development input.

Design Process

Using a modular design strategy we:

• Created a robust component library in Figma to maintain consistency and flexibility

• Designed mobile-first to ensure responsiveness across all devices

• Defined interaction patterns for spec toggles, visual galleries, and cart behaviour

• Worked closely with developers to ensure technical feasibility and clean handoff

• Supported QA during implementation to maintain pixel-perfect detail and UX quality

Testing & Validation

Although formal usability testing was limited due to timeline, I validated early designs through:

• Stakeholder walkthroughs

• Click-path testing with customer service and sales teams

• Soft-launch performance tracking post-deployment

The addition of the specification panels was especially well-received by hobbyist users, based on support ticket feedback and community engagement.

Final Solution

The redesigned Steamforged Games website now features:

• A bold, fantasy-inspired UI with improved accessibility and brand storytelling

• Intuitive global navigation and enhanced browsing by franchise or product type

• Rich specification sections for every game — including figure scale, materials, dimensions, and contents

• A streamlined checkout experience and consistent mobile performance

• A scalable design system that supports future product launches with minimal design lift

Impact

Impact metrics measured post-launch:

• +46% increase in global sessions

• +160% increase in average pages per session

• +126% increase in site-wide conversion rate

• +268% increase in global eCommerce revenue

• Support ticket volume related to product clarity decreased noticeably post-launch

• +27% increase in site traffic and +18% increase in revenue during the U.S. Black Friday weekend, attributed to the launch of paid search and shopping campaigns.

Reflection

This project was a reminder that even the most visual, brand-heavy experiences need to answer specific user questions with clarity and structure. By listening closely to the needs of passionate fans—especially around product details—we built a storefront that both inspires and informs. Moving forward, there’s an opportunity to explore user personalisation, game-specific landing pages, and integrated lore content to deepen engagement even further.