NYPL Brand Refresh
TIMELINE
Fall 2026
ROLE
Product Designer
TEAM
Just me!
TOOLS
Figma
ElevenLabs
Cursor
Claude
After Effects
OVERVIEW
What should MUJI’s digital storefront feel like?
The goal was to redesign MUJI’s e-commerce experience so it feels less transactional and more like an extension of its calm, sensory stores.
THE PROBLEM
The online store works. But it doesn’t feel like MUJI.
MUJI’s digital experience lacked the same clarity and atmosphere as its physical stores, creating friction across browsing, hierarchy, and brand expression.
Lost in the aisles.
Product browsing felt dense, making it harder for users to quickly understand how to navigate.
Visual noise in a quiet brand.
Inconsistent hierarchy, spacing, and layout made the site feel less calm and intentional than MUJI’s physical stores.
A brand you can see, but not feel.
The online experience lacked the sensory atmosphere of MUJI’s stores, where music, materials, and quiet moments shape the brand.
OPPORTUNITY
Bring the feeling of MUJI’s physical store into its digital shopping experience.
MUJI’s current digital experience helps users browse and buy products, but it does not fully capture the calm and intentional feeling of its stores. Shoppers can find products, but they have fewer ways to imagine them as part of a lifestyle, a room, or a seasonal mood.
MUJI STORE VS WEBSITE
THE SOLUTION
A calmer way to discover, visualize and shop.
The redesign reimagines MUJI’s e-commerce experience as a more guided and atmospheric journey. Instead of only browsing through product grids, shoppers can discover thoughtful gifts, imagine products in their own space, and explore MUJI through sound and mood.
WIREFRAMING
Designing the shopping journey before the interface.
Before applying the final visual system, I mapped the key flows to understand how users would move from discovery to decision-making.
WIREFRAME
CORE FLOWS
How the redesigned experience works
The final experience is built around four core flows: a redesigned storefront, guided gifting, room visualization, and mood-based browsing. Each flow extends MUJI’s calm retail experience into a clearer and more immersive digital journey.
Revamped Storefront
A warmer homepage and shopping experience designed around seasonal storytelling, clearer navigation, and softer product discovery.
Making gifting feel more thoughtful for them
Curated bundles that help shoppers find thoughtful gifts for their special someone with less guesswork.
New product detail page
Designed a complete gifting flow from PDP to Gift Box Checkout page that helps users discover products, combine multiple items into a gift box, and personalize their order.
Craft a gift box
A personalized gifting flow that lets users bundle MUJI products, choose wrapping, add a note, and schedule delivery.
DJ your shopping experience
Using ElevenLabs, I created original ambient compositions inspired by MUJI’s existing musical language, then adjusted the instrumentation, rhythm, and atmosphere to subtly reflect each location without turning the music into a cultural stereotype.
PROCESS
Recreating MUJI BGM with
+
Research
I studied MUJI’s existing BGM to identify the qualities that carried across its music: calm pacing, minimal arrangements, warmth, and an unobtrusive atmosphere.
Localize the mood
Using Claude, I crafted prompts to reflect each country's atmosphere without relying on cultural clichés.
Generate + refine
I generated tracks in ElevenLabs, then refined instrumentation, rhythm, overall harmony to achieve the right balance.
RESPONSIVE DESIGN + MODES
Designed for browsing across devices
The redesign adapts MUJI’s calm shopping experience across desktop and mobile, keeping discovery simple.
DESIGN SYSTEM
A welcoming system for curious browsing
The design system translates MUJI’s quiet identity into a warmer, consistent digital experience. Soft neutrals, deep seasonal red, minimal typography, rounded cards, and reusable components keep the interface calm.
REFLECTION
Here's what I learned:
Build for consistency.
Reusable components and shared style guides made it easier to maintain consistency and apply changes across the experience without updating every screen individually.
Design beyond aesthetics.
I learned to think from the user’s perspective and consider how layout, negative space, typography, hierarchy, and interactions work together to make an experience both visually polished and intuitive.
Want to see more?
Reach out to me at akatsukokona[at]gmail[dot]com!