PROJECT 01 / LENOVO
Redesigning product discovery for Gen z
ROLE
Product Designer
TEAM
2 PMs
6 Product Designers
TIMELINE
Feb 2026-May 2026
CONTEXT
I was a product designer for Lenovo through Cornell's Design Consulting Club, tasked with redesigning their e-commerce site and Legion gaming community platform. The project was split across two teams and I worked on e-commerce. While mobile screens were also designed, desktop was the primary focus, since research showed most users purchase laptops on desktop, with mobile mainly used earlier in the funnel (ads, YouTube, TikTok) rather than at checkout.
PROBLEM
lenovo.com
Lenovo.com wasn’t built for Gen Z shoppers in mind. The site overwhelmed non-technical users with dense, spec-heavy screens, offered no personalization, and showed near-identical products with no clear way to tell them apart.
How might we optimize and personalize Lenovo's site-wide product experience to feel intuitive, engaging, and trustworthy for Gen Z users?
RESEARCH
We analyzed 7 competitor sites and interviewed 20 Gen Z students on their laptop-shopping experience.
01
Too much jargon, not enough translation
Competitors buried decisions in technical specs
Students said the same specs were hard to parse without prior knowledge
02
Comparing models was a chore
Competitor layouts weren't built for scanning
Students struggled to compare multiple laptops quickly
03
No clear path to “the right one”
Competitors lacked trust signals and guidance
Students were often unsure which laptop actually fit their needs
Sites Analyzed
translating research into design
KEY DECISIONS
DECISION 01
Simplified the Cards
Research showed non-technical buyers got overwhelmed by dense, spec-heavy cards and often gave up to check social media recommendations instead. How much to strip out wasn't obvious, so I tested a few real directions.
Deal-first, no specs
Clean layout, price stands out
Nothing to compare or judge fit on
Plain-language only
Translates specs into use case
Drops specs, no way to compare
Condensed specs, kept
Enough info to compare, fast to scan
Familiar spec format shoppers already expect from comparing products online
We chose Option 3. Cutting specs entirely solved the jargon problem but left nothing to judge fit against. The condensed spec pill gave buyers enough to compare without the density of the original.
BEFORE
AFTER
1
Color-coded tag for quick visual differentiation by laptop line
2
Condensed 5 raw spec lines into one translated summary
User interviews showed non-technical buyers got overwhelmed by dense, spec-heavy pages, and often gave up and went to social media recommendations instead of comparing on-site. I cut on-card information from 12+ data points to the 6 that mattered most for a first decision, removing financing details, rewards messaging, and delivery logistics. I also condensed five raw spec lines into one translated pill (Core Ultra 7 · 32GB RAM · 1TB SSD · OLED), and used color-coded tags to differentiate laptop type at a glance, instead of requiring users to read line by line.
DECISION 02
Consolidated Duplicates
BEFORE
AFTER
1
Storage now configurable inline, removing the need for a separate near-identical listing
During interviews, several users asked the same question when looking at near-identical listings: what's actually different here besides the price? I merged cards that differed by a single variable, processor, color, or storage depending on the product line, into one card with an inline dropdown, letting users compare and configure that option without hunting across separate listings for what changed.
DECISION 03
Reorganized Entry Point
BEFORE
AFTER
1
Grouped listings by product line instead of one undifferentiated feed, letting users start from use case (i.e ThinkPad for work) rather than filtering through a mixed list
Research showed users couldn't tell what separated different devices or price points without opening each product page individually, there was no way to get oriented before digging in. I reorganized the entry point from one flat, filter-heavy list into laptops grouped by type, ThinkPad, Yoga, IdeaPad, so users could narrow by use case before comparing specs. Even with a 'Student' filter applied, the original results mixed unrelated models at inconsistent price points; grouping by product line gave users a clearer, more relevant starting point.
DECISION 04
Quick-View Modal
BEFORE
AFTER
Click into product page
Scroll to find specs
Go back to compare another
1
Translates technical specs into a plain-language recommendation for first-time buyers who lack spec knowledge
2
Lets users go from comparison to purchase without leaving the listing page
Previously, comparing laptops meant clicking into each full product page individually — no shortcut existed. The quick-view modal surfaces the specs that matter most directly from the listing, with 'ideal for' labels translating technical specs into plain use-case guidance for first-time buyers.
USER TESTING
We tested the final designs with 5 Gen Z students. Everyone completed a task to find a laptop suited for student use faster on the redesign than on the original site, and all 5 preferred the cleaner layout. Testers also confirmed they wanted brief specs visible directly on the card for quick scanning, and appreciated when technical specs were paired with plain-language explanations, validating the direction taken in the quick-view modal.
FINAL PROTOTYPE
After user testing and final team review, the design was refined further before final delivery to Lenovo.
DESIGN FOR MOBILE SCREEN
Desktop carried most of the design effort, but mobile screens were still built out to support Lenovo's site-wide experience across devices.
OUTCOMES & REFLECTIONS
We presented our final designs to the Lenovo team. Testing with 5 Gen Z students confirmed the simplified layout, all 5 completed the task faster and preferred the cleaner design, and Lenovo indicated plans to implement the quick-view feature.
Working alongside 6 designers and 2 PMs pushed me to sharpen how I communicate design rationale, turning research into decisions the whole team could align on, even under a tight timeline. I'm grateful to my team for the collaboration and candid feedback throughout, and to Lenovo for trusting a group of students with a real, live product challenge. This project reinforced something I keep coming back to: good design isn't about having the final say, it's about building a case clear enough that the right decision becomes obvious to everyone in the room.
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