Industry
Arts & Culture / Headless Ecommerce
Client
Mall Galleries
Mall Galleries: Headless CMS and Ecommerce Integration
Creating a unified visual experience across two separate platforms
Mall Galleries is the national focal point for contemporary figurative art, based in a Grade I-listed building in central London. They needed to modernise their outdated Drupal 7 site while simultaneously launching a dedicated ecommerce platform. The challenge was making two separate systems feel like one cohesive experience. As UI Lead, I designed the complete visual system for both platforms. Drupal 10 for content management and BigCommerce for the online shop. The brief was clear. Create a mobile-first, art-focused design that would appeal to a younger demographic whilst respecting Mall Galleries' heritage. Budget constraints meant the shop couldn't have custom development. Developers would need to build it using styleguides and components from the CMS. This meant every design decision had to work across both platforms. The visual language needed to be consistent, reusable, and flexible enough to handle both editorial content and ecommerce functionality. All while showcasing artwork without cropping images. A non-negotiable requirement when selling art.
Performance and impact
The headless architecture delivered immediate results. Site performance improved by 84%. Accessibility score jumped from 86 to 95. The ecommerce platform achieved a best-practice score of 100. More importantly, Mall Galleries saw their highest-value artwork sale ever through the website. 5x their previous best. The first six months post-launch were their best year since the pandemic. Engagement rate increased by 60%. Artwork submissions for annual exhibitions doubled. The unified visual system I created meant users moved between browsing exhibitions (Drupal) and purchasing artwork (BigCommerce) without noticing the platform switch. By designing a system that developers could implement across both platforms using shared components and styleguides, we delivered a seamless experience despite budget and technical constraints. The art-focused design ensured images were never cropped, maintaining the integrity of each piece whilst creating a clean, modern interface that appeals to younger audiences. Key Outcomes: • 84% boost in site performance • Accessibility score improved from 86 to 95 • Best-practice score of 100 for ecommerce • 60% increase in engagement rate • Highest-value artwork sale ever (5x previous best) • Doubled artwork submissions for exhibitions • Unified design system across Drupal 10 CMS and BigCommerce • Mobile-first approach appealing to younger demographic
