Website Design with Kit Builder Integration
For INK
- INK
- Sports Apparel
- UI/UX Design
- 1 UX Researcher & 1 UI Designer
- 3 Months
About INK
Black Sheep Cycling is an Australian brand dedicated to creating sports garments for cyclists. And it’s not just any brand. BSC is a supplier of sports garments for the Olympics.
Now, BSC had come up with a new child product that was going to be something very different from what they have usually done. This was going to be a house of custom sports apparels for cyclists. And here is the big part: the entire customization could be done right on the website by the user.
In case the user would like suggestions, INK’s experts would be willing to do the customization for them. These end users included both individuals and teams.
So, here begins the journey of INK’s design.
Challenges
Now, INK planned on making life simpler and more interesting by allowing garment customization on the website. The mechanism behind it was to be managed by Kit Builder.
One look at the API, and we were concerned about how to match KB’s visuals with that of INK. However, after a few rounds of discussion with the KB team and with John Polson, the founder of both Black Sheep Cycling and INK, it became apparent that while Kit Builder had some good restrictions in terms of changing the CSS, we were allowed to introduce a little amount of styling to it. So, a couple of iterations finally led us to an output that agreed with both Kit Builder and us.
Our Approach
Discover
INK’s target audience consisted of professional cyclists – both individuals and teams.
This could be translated into the fact that they did not have much time to go through lots of information on the website before starting the garment customisation, especially when they are requesting bulk orders.
So, the website had to be to-the-point and yet attractive enough to resonate with a brand that was as large as supplying for Olympians.
Define: Brainstorming and Brand Harmony
The goal was to design a sleek, user-friendly website for INK that seamlessly integrated Kit Builder for real-time sports apparel customization. The challenge lay in aligning Kit Builder’s rigid visual framework with INK’s bold brand identity, while also ensuring a smooth experience for both individual and team users.
Design Highlights
This was our first time integrating a third-party kit customization tool into a full-scale ecommerce experience — and that meant understanding not just how cyclists shop, but how they create. We had to quickly familiarize ourselves with Kit Builder’s API, its limitations, and how it could visually blend with INK’s strong branding.
We started small — wireframing key user flows like custom kit creation, team orders, and design previews. Each round was followed by client reviews to align on expectations. Once we found the right rhythm, we focused on refining the experience: clean layouts, intuitive interactions, and a smooth customization journey that felt both professional and playful — just like the INK brand.
The new INK Website stands as a dynamic, futuristic digital platform that:
- Reflects the brand’s innovative spirit.
- Offers an immersive and engaging experience.
- Features 50+ interconnected pages, seamlessly designed for easy navigation.
Final Product Showcase
The result was a dynamic, visually engaging website where users could easily design their own cycling kits. With seamless Kit Builder integration, responsive layouts, and a design that stayed true to INK’s bold identity, the platform now empowers both individuals and teams to bring their custom apparel ideas to life — effortlessly and intuitively.
Post Production
INK was originally designed to be developed as a Shopify website. However, it ended up being a fully bespoke WooCommerce platform. It was a big challenge for both the development team and the KitBuilder team as none of them had ever worked on such a big integration before.
As the team that conceived INK’s online structure, our non-stop cooperation with the development team, the KitBuilder team and John continued until the website was deployed, and even later.
The role of a designer never ends!
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