Featured Project: HOLLY HUNT
- Services
- User Research
- Research, Analysis, and Insights
- Journey Mapping
- Ethnographic Study
- Product Design
- Interactive and Experience Design
- Strategic Communications
- Prototyping
- Usability Analysis
HOLLY HUNT is a luxury, to-the-trade, custom furnishings company that has been setting the standard for the industry since 1984.
The team came to One Design looking to transform their digital experience, and we harnessed the power of user research and human-centered design to create a solution as modern, service-oriented, and beautiful as the brand itself.
Giving experts a fresh look at their own industry
In-depth field research involved design studio immersions, HOLLY HUNT showroom shadowing, secret shopping trips—plus an audit of inspirational peers and analogous luxury experiences. Through it, we gained a deep understanding of the interior designer’s processes, pain points, requirements, and expectations when it comes to interactions with luxury vendors online and off.
The key insight was that, in a world where impeccable quality is a given and any single brand is only one of 75+ vendors on a project, service is what makes one luxury brand stand out above the rest.
A beautifully functional, end-to-end digital experience
Creating supremely functional solutions for design professionals was critical. However the site we designed had to transcend practicality—embodying a luxury brand experience as sophisticated, beautiful, and elegant as the rest of the HOLLY HUNT universe.
The new design system brings the brand’s modern, minimal aesthetic to life in the digital space through an elevated use of typography and a content-first user experience—leveraging immersive video and editorial photography to articulate the story of the brand and its latest creations.
Modern tools for the trade
An immersive digital showroom and a comprehensive account portal
For the website, one of the greatest opportunities was to create an easy-to-understand system that helped busy designers keep projects moving. So we designed an account portal that works with HOLLY HUNT’s existing back-end data and systems to give designers transparency into the status of their orders, allow them to approve cuttings and samples, and give them 24/7 access to their local showrooms and sales representatives.
We also made sure to provide interior designers access to the content they need to quickly shop and specify product across the entire site:
- Brought vital specification data forward in easy-to-parse tables
- Gave designers easy access to high-resolution, unbranded photography for use in presentations
- Distilled the design story of each piece into compelling, but scannable sound bites
Envisioning the future
We collaborated closely with HOLLY HUNT to inform a new photographic vision, capturing the essence of the brand’s mystique and design sensibility through rich, atmospheric lighting and cinematic staging—designed to create a sense of intimacy and intrigue.
Never let best get in the way of better.
To refine the user experience we were creating, we tested a prototype with interior designers. They immediately understood the features that were being added to the site and we heard more than a few squeals of joy.
I love this—it’s amazing. I don’t need to search emails. This is probably the best thing you could put on this website. This is fantastic.
Designer feedback regarding the new HOLLY HUNT account portal
As the site launches to the world, we too are squealing with delight knowing that we are helping a remarkable brand continue to deliver industry-leading experiences, products, and services.
HOLLY HUNT’s motto is “Never let best get in the way of better,” and in that spirit, the HOLLY HUNT team continues to keep user need at the center of their process. We're thrilled to continue collaborating with HOLLY HUNT and their development partner, Bounteous, to layer on more features and functionality to their website in the months to come.
