Navigation and IA Redesign for FIGS

As part of the Site Simplification initiative, our e-commerce pod was tasked with reimagining the on-site navigation and information architecture. This included exploring both blue-sky concepts and low-engineering-scope updates to modernize and streamline the experience.

Role

UI/UX Designer

Timeline

2 months

Scope

Information Architecture, UI/UX, Usability Testing

The Problem

FIGS relied on brand-specific terminology and a unique product taxonomy that didn’t align with common e-commerce patterns. This created friction for customers, especially those unfamiliar with the brand, making it harder to find key products and reducing engagement with potential revenue drivers.

Additionally, the existing navigation UI lacked clear visual hierarchy and separation, making it difficult for users to distinguish between higher- and lower-priority categories.

Goals

Redesign the navigation to improve usability through stronger information architecture and refined UI, enabling customers to quickly identify and access relevant collections with less effort.

Discovery & Patterning

We conducted extensive competitive patterning to benchmark industry-standard nomenclature for products and categories against our own terminology.

Brands like Everlane and Patagonia were particularly influential, offering inspiration for both their information architecture and the clarity of their product language.

Areas of Opportunity

Visually Separate Navigation Types

Establish a clear visual hierarchy that distinguishes primary product navigation from secondary “courtesy” navigation.

Prioritize Main Product Navigation Over Themes

Surface core product categories first, ensuring users can easily find essentials before encountering branded or themed collections.

Use Pages Instead of Accordions

Reduce cognitive load by presenting categories on dedicated pages rather than stacking expandable accordions.

Adopt Industry-Standard Nomenclature

Replace brand-specific phrasing with widely recognized category titles to improve clarity and recognition.

Maintain Consistent Category Patterns

Structure collections with a uniform pattern to meet user expectations and create a seamless navigation experience.

Reintroduce Promotional Tiles in Mobile Navigation

Strategically incorporate promo tiles to diversify the visual language and highlight launches or key initiatives.

Information Architecture Updates

Before diving into design ideation, we tested adjustments to the information architecture (IA) to validate the most effective structure for the new user experience. These refinements were guided by industry best practices identified through competitive analysis.

As a first step of the discovery process, the UX team conducted several usability interviews using the current Color Lab experience to help gauge perception and areas of opportunity.

- Addition of "Featured" as a new category. Any launches or new items that are not shown in the bolded section towards the top of the navigation would be placed here.

- Added an "All ____" collection at the forefront of each category (i.e. All Scrubs).

- Renaming of Underscrubs to “Underscrub Tops."

- Loungewear as its own category.

- Renaming of “Necessities” to “Accessories.”

Addition of "Featured" as a new category. Any launches or new items that are not shown in the bolded section towards the top of the navigation would be placed here.

Loungewear as its own category.

Renaming of “Necessities” to “Accessories.”

Added an "All ____" collection at the forefront of each category (i.e. All Scrubs).

Renaming of Underscrubs to “Underscrub Tops.”

IA AB Test Results

Our key takeaway was that navigation updates – spanning naming, categorization, hierarchy, and placement – significantly shaped how customers explored the site, but had less direct influence on purchase intent.

+0.4%

Increase in overall CVR

+66%

Increased in sessions based on category name updates

+19%

Increase in net orders for both new and repeat customers

Wireframing

Before developing a “dream state” prototype for user testing – intended to benchmark the updated navigation against our existing experience – I explored multiple design directions based on the defined areas of opportunity. These explorations focused on optimizing UI hierarchy, refining home and gender navigation, improving link styling, and creating responsive layouts tailored for desktop.

Dream State Navigation UI

As part of the Q4 2025 roadmap, our team will implement a full navigation UI redesign. We’ll iteratively roll out updates based on the dream state designs, validating improvements through A/B testing to ensure an optimal user experience.

As part of the Q4 2025 roadmap, our team will implement a full navigation UI redesign. We’ll iteratively roll out updates based on the dream state designs, validating improvements through A/B testing to ensure an optimal user experience.

- Established unified typography across the main navigation to strengthen consistency while preserving clear visual hierarchy.

- Standardized FIGS-specific terminology to align with common e-commerce conventions (e.g., “Footwear” instead of “For Your Feet,” “Jackets & Lab Coats” instead of “Layering Essentials”).

- For links with larger collections, instead of using accordion dropdowns to reveal subcategories, the user is brought to a separate page to view the collection to remove accordion closing usability issues.

- Visually separated the “courtesy” navigation (Women’s Home, TEAMS Orders, etc.) to establish a more logical sense of importance when viewing the navigation.

- Introduced promotional visual tiles within the navigation to create brand moments that highlight key campaigns and launches.

Established unified typography across the main navigation to strengthen consistency while preserving clear visual hierarchy.

Visually separated the “courtesy” navigation (Women’s Home, TEAMS Orders, etc.) to establish a more logical sense of importance when viewing the navigation.

Introduced promotional visual tiles within the navigation to create brand moments that highlight key campaigns and launches.

For links with larger collections, instead of using accordion dropdowns to reveal subcategories, the user is brought to a separate page to view the collection to remove accordion closing usability issues.

Standardized FIGS-specific terminology to align with common e-commerce conventions (e.g., “Footwear” instead of “For Your Feet,” “Jackets & Lab Coats” instead of “Layering Essentials”).

Project Challenges

The UX team received strong support from adjacent teams, including Engineering, Product Management, and Site Merchandising, throughout the project. The primary challenges emerged from a brand perspective, as there was a desire to maintain certain proprietary terms that reinforced FIGS’ unique identity.

To address this, our user interviews and A/B testing specifically explored how users responded to these branded terms versus more conventional category names. This data-driven approach allowed the team to balance brand expression with usability, ultimately recommending changes where terminology most affected user comprehension and conversion, while preserving branded language in less critical areas.

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