Evolving Co-op Membership

Background

Co-op was evolving its Membership proposition into a phased digital experience, allowing the business to release value early, learn from member behaviour and evolve the experience over time.

The challenge was to turn a complex proposition into a simple, engaging experience while delivering value iteratively. The MVP needed to launch before the brand identity existed, requiring a flexible interface that could later accommodate a distinctive visual identity.

As Membership evolved, new community and participation features added complexity, while the proposition expanded to reward members for engaging across more areas of the Co-op business. The experience needed to scale while remaining simple, intuitive and rewarding.

What I did

• Led a multidisciplinary design team, setting direction, planning roadmaps and balancing user, business and technical needs.
• Framed complex challenges through discovery, journey mapping, rapid prototyping and user research, translating insights into clear design direction.
• Crafted the digital experience and visual language, translating a benefit-first brand into an intuitive, accessible app experience.
• Built trusted stakeholder relationships, embedding collaborative workshops, regular playbacks and tailored feedback approaches.
• Protected the customer experience throughout delivery by balancing engineering constraints, negotiating roadmap priorities and using evidence to influence product decisions.

Result

• Established the design foundations for the evolution of Co-op Membership, supporting phased delivery and future development.
• Delivered accessible, user-tested experiences that balanced member needs with business objectives and technical constraints.
• Influenced the digital application of the brand, helping establish a consistent visual standard for Membership across the app.
• Built strong cross-functional alignment, reducing delivery risk and enabling faster, more confident product decisions.
• Created a scalable design foundation capable of supporting new benefits, participation features and future phases of Membership.