Bonhams
Elevating the Private Sales Journey
Overview
I was hired by Bonhams to cover the maternity leave of the Senior UX/UI Designer for 6 months.
During this time I worked as the sole UX/UI designer within the Technology team and took on a wide range of projects, from undertaking minor updates to existing designs, to engaging with and resolving new challenges that arose through the evolving needs of the company and continual adjustment of the website, mobile app and other digital platforms used by staff.
Bonhams operates in a highly competitive international auction house market with multiple branches globally and serves high net worth individuals.
Problem
One project I worked on at Bonhams was redesigning the Private Sales pages. The company wanted to focus more on this department because it saw strong growth potential and an untapped market. The main Private Sales page matched the brand image, but the subpages lacked the exclusivity and clarity expected in the high-end market.
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Layouts felt generic, not exclusive.
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The user journey lacked a clear next step.
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The design did not reflect the personalised, discreet nature of private brokerage.
Goal
Create a digital experience that:
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Signals exclusivity and trust.
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Builds relationships with specialists.
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Stays consistent with Bonhams’ tone of voice and design system.
Impact
Delivered an exclusive, research-driven design that aligns with luxury market expectations and supports business growth.
Before & After
Before: Dense 4-column grids, generic lot cards, auction-style layouts.
After: 3-column grid, calm white background, discreet filters, specialist CTA on every lot card, trust-building framing, and sold lot transparency.
My Role
As the sole designer on this project, I was responsible for research, wireframes and final design. I worked with marketing, business development, and the tech team to align user needs, brand goals and CMS/engineering constraints.
Process
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Research & Insights
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Benchmarked Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and high-end retail for inspiration without imitation.
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Identified opportunity to slow browsing rhythm, reinforce rarity, and highlight specialists.
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Reviewed luxury brand psychology (scarcity bias, status signalling, controlled access).
Learning from the Market
2. Workshops & Alignment
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Collaborated with marketing + business development teams to agree content and structure.
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Defined two subpages: Fine Arts and Luxury.
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Locked wireframes before moving to visuals.
Wireframes after stakeholder sign-off
3. Design Decisions
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Reduced density: From 4 to 3 lot cards per row for a slower and calmer browsing.
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Introduced discreet filter toggle to preserve openness.
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Added “Contact Us” CTA on lot cards.
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Framed specialist cards with an intro to build trust.
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Highlighted sold lots on Luxury to increase transparency and confidence.
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Larger typography and wide-format imagery on lot pages to make the object central.
How white space shapes perception
4. Constraints & Trade-offs
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Worked entirely within the CMS and the component library, inventing through layout rather than custom builds.
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Balanced business goals vs. user tone (e.g. subtlety of consignment prompts).
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Ensured performance and accessibility were not compromised by changes.
Redesigned Private Sales lot page
Specialists and sold lots sections
Iteration & Challenges
This project wasn’t a straight line.
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I first explored a denser layout to maximise catalogue visibility, but it tested poorly in stakeholder reviews. It felt too much like the standard auction pages, so we shifted to a calmer three-column rhythm.
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Marketing wanted stronger promotional copy, while Business Development preferred minimalism. I found a middle ground by testing light-touch explanatory text that supported trust without overwhelming the visuals.
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Stakeholders originally asked for a visible side filter menu. I explored that option, but it conflicted with the calm and exclusive feel we were aiming for. I proposed a discreet “Show filters” toggle instead, which preserved openness while still meeting functionality needs.
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CMS and sprint constraints limited how much we could customise. To work within those boundaries, I focused on spacing, hierarchy, and interaction patterns. These adjustments elevated perception without requiring new components.
These iterations showed me how subtle adjustments can balance business goals, technical feasibility, and user expectations, while still moving fast inside sprint cycles.
Impact
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Approved for build: moving into sprints after stakeholder sign-off.
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Expected outcomes (metrics defined pre-launch):
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↑ Specialist contacts (new CTA).
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↑ Scroll depth and time-on-page (slower browsing rhythm).
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↑ Interactions with sold lots (confidence boost).
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Business value: Transformed “generic catalogue” layouts into private, relationship-led touchpoints, aligning digital with the exclusivity of Private Sales.
Conclusion
This project was about more than visuals. It translated behavioural research into structural and visual choices. Every decision, from grid spacing to call-to-action placement, was made to support trust, exclusivity and clarity.
The redesign shows how subtle, research-driven design can elevate perception and create meaningful business outcomes, even within technical and brand constraints.
Other key experience...
During my tenure at Bonhams, I worked on multiple other projects, including:
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Leading a redesign of the Homepage, Department Page, and Auction Calendar Page with a refreshed layout to better highlight recommended auctions, improve engagement, and increase conversion rates. I presented the designs to senior stakeholders, who responded positively.
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Redesigning a Sales Dashboard for the data analysis team to support internal decision-making.
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Continuing work on several long-term projects that began before my tenure, including design development for an in-house bidding engine, a registration engine, a new mobile app and a value management system.
In development sprints I have worked closely with front-end developers to fix errors or fill in missing design elements. My responsibility was also to uphold the existing design principles and to create new screens that stayed consistent with the current design system.
Overall Experience
Working at Bonhams has been a highly valuable experience, through which I have:
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Developed a nuanced understanding of the auction industry and serving high net-worth individuals and stakeholders.
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Collaborated closely with back-end and front-end developers, business and data analysts, alongside marketing, sales and IT security teams in a fast-paced environment where quality and attention to detail is prioritised.