Reimagining Old Navy’s Style Guide
Designing a Scalable System That Bridges Strategy and Store Execution
The Old Navy Style Guide is a digital, internal toolkit used by all divisions under the Old Navy brand. It aligns cross-functional teams on seasonal visual merchandising strategy, product data, and brand guidelines, ensuring consistent, on-brand execution across every store location worldwide.
Why This Project Exists
As Old Navy transitioned from printed to fully digital Style Guides, stores began receiving large volumes of new merchandise without timely corporate direction. Without clear guidance, products often sat in stockrooms instead of reaching the sales floor, resulting in missed sales opportunities and inconsistent customer experiences.
At the same time, the corporate Visual Communications Design team faced increasing demand to produce fast, scalable digital Style Guides with limited resources.
My Role
Role: Visual Designer
Team: Visual Communications Director, Designer I, UX Designer, Senior Merchant
Tools: InDesign, Illustrator, Figma, Miro, Airtable, SharePoint, Centric Software
I was brought onto the team for my hybrid background in UX/UI, graphic design, and first-hand experience as a field Visual Merchandising Manager. Having used Style Guides as an end user, I understood operational constraints, field workflows, and the end-to-end product journey, informing research, UX decisions, and the evolution of the Style Guide system.
Understanding the End-to-End Experience
Before diving into the Style Guide framework, it’s critical to understand the full product journey, from initial concept to store execution and where breakdowns occur. Think of this as the spine.
The Ecosystem
Style Guides exist within a complex ecosystem of teams:
Corporate Visual Merchandising
Corporate Creative Design
Merchants, Product & Marketing
Field Visual Merchandising
Field Logistics & Store Operations
Each team plays a distinct role, but success depends on one thing: clear communication.
Two Parallel Workflows
Corporate Workflow:
Visual Merchandising and Design teams define seasonal strategy, brand guidelines, product priorities, and storytelling.
Field Workflow:
Field Visual Merchandising and Logistics teams execute this strategy in stores, placing products, setting floors, and bringing the brand vision to life.
When these workflows are not aligned, execution suffers.
The Customer at the Center
All teams work toward a shared goal: delivering an accessible, affordable, and easy-to-shop experience for our target customer, Jenny: a busy mom who values simplicity, style, and affordability. Our approach is rooted in human centered customer experience aligning user needs and business goals by keeping Jenny in mind on every decision centers our team in building a meaningful customer and business experience.
Framing the Problem (Big Picture)
The Problem, Explained Simply
New merchandise arrives in stores in large volumes.
Without clear direction from corporate, store teams don’t know where or how to place it.
Products sit in stockrooms instead of on the sales floor.
Customers don’t see the new product.
The business loses sales.
Problem Statement
Field Visual Merchandising Managers receive large volumes of new products that must be placed on the sales floor. Without a Style Guide providing clear, actionable direction, teams are forced to improvise under time constraints, leading to inconsistent execution, delayed floor sets, and misalignment with brand standards.
Defining the Goal
Objective
Design a comprehensive Style Guide that translates corporate visual merchandising strategy into clear, executable guidance for field teams supporting a faster execution, consistent product placement, and a cohesive customer experience across all Old Navy stores.
The Context (Business Challenge)
Business Challenge
When large volumes of new products arrive in stores without aligned guidance, full-price merchandise frequently remains in back rooms instead of driving daily business goals on the sales floor. Field teams are prepared to execute, but lack the direction needed to act effectively.
Why It Matters
Visual Merchandising is part of a larger cross-functional process that begins long before a product reaches stores. Without a system to align decisions across teams, corporate intent can be lost before it reaches the field.
The Style Guide functions as a design system for visual merchandising, translating strategy into scalable, repeatable execution.
Customer Impact
By providing clear instructions on how, what, why, when, and where to place products, the Style Guide empowers field teams to deliver cohesive floor presentations.
This ensures that Jenny can walk into any Old Navy store and easily find what she came for within a consistent, on-brand environment.
The Project (What Was Designed)
Project Overview
The Old Navy Style Guide is a multi-functional toolkit designed to support the creation of a cohesive in-store customer experience. It integrates brand guidelines, design systems, product data, seasonal strategy, planning, execution, and service blueprint workflows into a single source of truth.
What the Style Guide Includes
Store layouts and visual mapping
Seasonal marketing integration and visual strategy
Visual merchandising guidelines and step-by-step how-tos
Product imagery, CAD croquis, and product data
Key merchandising elements and presentation standards
Why It Works
Beyond ensuring consistent store rollouts, the Style Guide supports operational efficiency, improves communication across teams, and helps drive sales by aligning in-store execution with Old Navy’s broader business goals.
Integrity, creativity, and empathy shape the way we work. These aren't just words—they’re the foundation of everything we build. We believe in doing great work, building real relationships, and making it easy for you to get the results you’re looking for.
copy
about
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
