DeBeers Case Study
A New Digital Era for a Global Icon in the Diamond Sector
As the world’s most recognisable diamond company, De Beers Group carries with it a legacy of luxury and heritage – but also scrutiny.
While its brand is synonymous with elegance, the company’s historical perception posed reputational challenges: criticisms around market control and ethical practices had created an image that felt outdated, especially in a modern climate of transparency, sustainability and accountability.
ROLE
Art Director & Design Lead
The Challenge
The challenge was to help usher in a new era — supporting a bold rebrand and translating that into a future-facing digital estate. One that could reflect both the depth of De Beers' heritage and the breadth of its global ambition.
Upfront Discovery
We began with a series of deep-dive brand workshops with De Beers Group’s global stakeholders. Working from a new brand identity (developed by an external agency), we focused on identifying how this could live and breathe digitally.
We mapped key audiences — customers, employees, media, partners, investors, and government stakeholders.
Setting the Creative Direction
— and aligned around a shared mission.: to create a digital estate under the ‘De Beers Group’ umbrella that could serve multiple purposes:
- Promote the e-commerce and jewellery business
- Communicate the company’s Purpose, Values and Ambition
- Provide transparency around sustainability and ethics
- Celebrate the company’s rich history
We developed a visual direction that was both classic and editorial in tone — rich with heritage but unmistakably modern. Inspired by the intricacy of the company’s diamonds and jewellery, the UI was designed to feel considered, elegant and expressive.
UX & Design System
The creative direction was applied across three key digital areas:
- The corporate site
- The global careers platform
- The e-commerce experience
To manage this intuitively, the UX brief was complex. DeBeers needed a structure that could serve multiple audiences — and balance deeply layered content without overwhelming the user. We tackled this in a dedicated two-week sprint, run from our studio in Gujarat, India, where I led a team of four designers.
The UX challenge:
- Multi-level navigation
- Clean and intuitive mobile flows
- Intelligent, semantic search
We prototyped and tested three distinct navigation concepts with a range of users. The winning approach leveraged progressive reveal models where content structures opened gradually, based on user interaction. This avoided cognitive overload and allowed for better orientation within the site.
Navigation & search winning solution
A core mobile user flow from landing page > editorial content > e-commerce site.
Impact
The project helped reset perceptions of De Beers — introducing a new voice that was confident, transparent, and human. Internally, it aligned global stakeholders around a shared digital strategy.
This work laid the foundation for a scalable design system, handed over to De Beers’ internal engineering team for global implementation.
- 84% increase in average session duration across DeBeers digital estate
- 72% of users reported they could find key content within 47 seconds
- 28% increase in job applications via new careers portal
- Shortlisted for IR Web Awards — Luxury & Sustainability category
- "This isn't just a new website or digital asset — it's a new expression of who we are." — Global Brand Director, De Beers Group
Failures & Learnings
- A strong visual identity is only as effective as the UX system that delivers it.
- Multi-audience platforms with complex layers of content require careful choreography — progressive disclosure proved essential.
- Even luxury brands benefit from transparency and structure, especially when the brand story includes societal impact.
