Kohl’s

North Star Checkout Vision

Role

Product Designer

Product Manager

Engineering Manager

4 Front-end

6 back-end engineers

Team

Figma

FigJam

dScout

Dovetail

Adobe analytics

Tools

Overview

This case study showcases how the North Star vision process was defined and prioritized to align with business goals, laying the groundwork for the in-progress implementation of a redesigned experience focused on solving key user pain points and driving long-term product impact.

Problem

Without a clear North Star vision, teams risk misalignment, inconsistent decision-making, and short-term thinking—ultimately leading to fragmented user experiences and a lack of cohesive product direction.

Goal

Design an end-to-end cart and checkout experience that simplifies the process, increases customer confidence, and minimizes errors to improve conversion and satisfaction.

Audience

Kohl’s Registered Customers
Guest or Non-Registered Customers
Kohl’s app Customers

Solution

Based on user research and product discovery workshops with various cross functional teams & stakeholders, I designed an end-to-end checkout experience that simplifies the process, boosts customer confidence, and reduces errors—ultimately improving conversion and satisfaction. This work led to the prioritized redesign of the entire checkout flow.

Design Leadership

In this project, I led the entire design process end-to-end—from initial concept to final execution. As the sole product designer, I took full ownership of every stage, including collaborating with other designers & stakeholders, competitor analysis, user flows, and high-fidelity prototypes, A/B testing, ultimately delivering a scalable, user-friendly experience.

Impact

By working on the North Star vision, developed in collaboration with cross-functional teams and partners, helped prioritize the redesign of the end-to-end checkout experience.

The redesigned flow uncovered key user pain points, aligned teams around a unified vision, and laid the foundation for a scalable, user-friendly experience that follows UX best practices and aligns with the customer’s mental model.

Resulted in end-to-end Checkout Redesign

Reflection

This work reaffirmed the power of designing with our North Star in mind: creating a seamless, trustworthy, and value-driven customer experience. It reminded us that when we lead with empathy and clarity, we don’t just solve surface-level problems—we deepen customer trust and loyalty.

By anchoring our decisions in real user insights and aligning them with long-term business goals, we were able to deliver meaningful short-term impact while building toward a more consistent, scalable future.

This initiative is a clear example of how staying focused on our North Star allows us to prioritize what matters most—our customers—while driving sustainable growth and innovation.

Next Steps

Set up a feedback loop to capture ongoing customer insights.
Continuously iterate based on data and behavior.
Extend learnings to other parts of the journey.
Monitor long-term impact on conversion and satisfaction.