Jeffrey New York
First digital flagship for the NYC retailer. Full ecommerce launch - brand system, site architecture, and content engine built from zero.
Field Digital Strategy Brand System Ecommerce Design UX Architecture
Author Jeremy Prasatik Published: 2015 Status: Live
Classification Digital Strategy Brand System Ecommerce Design UX Architecture
Abstract
Jeffrey had never sold online. The physical store was a gallery with a curator's eye, and the challenge was translating that into a digital channel without flattening it into a catalog.
I started with the buying team - learned how the floor worked, how pieces were grouped, what made the edit feel like Jeffrey. The strategy I pitched and won was simple: storytelling over transaction. Designer launches, weekly content drops, editorial pacing baked into the structure.
Built the full system from there - modular grids for seasonal flexibility, typography hierarchy that stayed sharp across contexts, product pages that led with imagery, navigation centered on curation rather than categories. Handled the integration work alongside external partners while keeping ownership of the experience, with every interaction from wireframe to checkout prototyped to feel intentional.
Storytelling Over Transaction.
The pitch that won: a digital channel that worked the way the store worked. Designer launches as moments, weekly content drops as a rhythm, editorial pacing as the structure itself.
I sat with the buying team to learn how the floor worked - how pieces were grouped, how seasons shifted, what made the edit read as Jeffrey. The site needed to behave like the store, which meant designing the publishing system before the product templates.
A flagship, not a storefront
Modular Grids, Curated Navigation.
Modular grids for seasonal flexibility, typography hierarchy that held sharp across contexts, product pages that led with imagery, navigation organized around curation instead of categories.
The grid let merchandising compose seasonal layouts without touching the underlying templates - swap photography, swap copy, ship. Type stayed structural rather than decorative, which is what kept the site from drifting toward catalog feel as the store grew.
A Quiet Type System Doing the Structural Work.
One typeface across weights, a restrained palette, and a logo lockup that sat as a graphic mark before it sat as a name. The kit ran the same way at every scale.
Chromatic brand circle
Charcoal
#1A1A1A
Type, structure
Cream
#F5F2ED
Paper, ground
Brand Yellow
#FFFF40
Wordmark, accent
Soft Gray
#8C8578
Meta, captions
Brand philosophy
The palette stays narrow on purpose. Charcoal carries the type and the structural weight, cream sits as the ground that lets the photography do the talking, and a single yellow accent - pulled straight from the wordmark - ties the editorial moments together. No second accent, no decorative color - the merchandise brings whatever it needs.
Type is one family across weights. Avenir Next Heavy carried the wordmark and feature headlines, Demi Bold carried subheads and CTAs, Medium carried the rest. The single family kept the system tight, and the weight contrast did the work that a multi-font stack would otherwise have to.
JEFFREY Wordmark
Avenir Next Heavy Italic at scale. The same wordmark that anchored the storefront, set wide and locked tight as a graphic mark.
Avenir Next Heavy Feature headlines
Heaviest non-italic weight, used for designer launches and editorial moments. Pairs with the wordmark as the loudest the system gets.
Avenir Next Demi Bold Subhead & CTAs
Mid-heavy weight for subheads, callouts, and CTAs. The structural voice that ties the catalog together.
Avenir Next Medium Body & captions
Standard weight for product copy, descriptions, and longer-form text. Quiet enough to let the photography lead.
JEFFREY
Wordmark
Charcoal · #1A1A1A
Avenir Next Heavy
Feature headlines
Cream · #F5F2ED
Avenir Next Demi Bold
Subhead & CTAs
Brand Yellow · #FFFF40
Avenir Next Medium
Body & captions
Soft Gray · #8C8578
One System, Every Surface.
Wordmark, type, grid, photography - one kit propagating from the brand experience out through every surface the customer touched.
A Digital Flagship Built Like the Store.
Strategy, brand, architecture, content - one system that ran on the same curatorial logic as the physical store.
Services
Digital Strategy
Brand System
Ecommerce Design
UX Architecture
Stack
Photoshop
Illustrator
Sketch
InVision
Links
Jeffrey's first digital channel, built to behave like the store rather than a catalog. The publishing system shipped before the product templates, which is what kept the site reading as editorial instead of inventory. A flagship, not a storefront.
