Designing a Premium Experience

Farrow & Ball is a globally recognised paint and wallpaper brand, celebrated for its craftsmanship, complex colours, and high-end aesthetic. With a loyal customer base across the UK and US, the brand is a staple for designers and homeowners seeking timeless, premium finishes. But while its physical products reflected this heritage, the digital tools available to its design community did not.

To bring its service offering in line with its premium positioning, Farrow & Ball partnered with The Pixel to develop a dedicated designer portal—a streamlined, branded platform supporting both in-house designers and third-party professionals. The result is a modern tool that redefines how design professionals interact with the brand, enhancing the customer experience and reinforcing Farrow & Ball’s market leadership across both the UK and US.

Farrow & Ball’s team of in-house designers needed tools to support direct collaboration with customers. At the same time, third-party professionals—including interior designers, decorators, and design studios—required a smoother, more self-sufficient way to plan, specify, and purchase products. The main challenges included:

‍Disjointed workflows: Designers relied on manual tools or piecemeal systems to manage projects and orders.

Limited purchase visibility: Ensuring the right product usage and tracking orders across teams was cumbersome.

No centralised portal: There was no unified platform to support the specific needs of design professionals.

Inconsistent brand experience: The digital process didn’t reflect Farrow & Ball’s premium, curated in-store and product experience.

The goal was clear: deliver a purpose-built platform that empowers all types of designers, supports direct-to-consumer collaboration, and elevates the brand’s digital presence.

The Pixel brought together UX design expertise and Adobe Commerce experience to create a powerful, branded portal tailored for design professionals. Working closely with Farrow & Ball stakeholders, we focused on:

• Crafting an intuitive workflow tool for both internal and external users
  
• Designing a branded experience aligned with Farrow & Ball’s premium positioning
  
• Building project management, inspiration, and purchasing tools into one portal
  
• Planning for a soft launch in the US, followed by a UK rollout
  
• Ensuring scalability and long-term support for future features

Phase 1: Discovery & Insights from Designers
We began with stakeholder workshops and feedback from user testing to uncover common pain points and opportunities for improvement. These insights directly shaped the feature set and user flow.

‍Phase 2: Building the Portal Around Real Design Workflows
The final portal includes:

• Project management functionality to keep work structured and centralised
• Mood board and image sourcing tools to support inspiration and specification
• Product usage list ensuring the correct paints are selected and ordered
• Barcode system for in-store tracking and validation
• A unified purchasing view for easier ordering, especially for external agencies

Phase 3: Supporting Dual Audiences with a Branded UX
The platform is fully branded and tailored to two distinct user types:In-house Farrow & Ball designers who work directly with customers
Third-party professionals who can now deliver a Farrow & Ball experience that matches the brand’s quality and sophistication

Phase 4: Launch Strategy and International Rollout
We developed the portal with phased market entry in mind. A soft launch in the US will be followed by a UK launch, supported by Farrow & Ball’s PR and marketing efforts to promote the platform within the design industry.

Still in its early stages, the Farrow & Ball designer portal is already being recognised as a game-changer for the brand’s design partners. By streamlining the journey from inspiration to purchase, the portal allows designers to offer a more curated, brand-aligned service to their clients.

• Improved project visibility and accuracy across designer workflows
  
• Faster, more efficient purchasing with product tracking and barcode integration
  
• Deeper brand engagement through a fully branded digital tool
  
• Scalable framework ready for future feature development and international growth