Li & Fung Limited / UNIFi3D

Reinventing Fashion Collaboration

Year

Aug 2019 – Dec 2021

Role

Product Designer

Tools

Miro

Invision App

Sketch App

Figma

Zeplin

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Industry

Fashion Supply Chain / Digital Product Creation

Company Context

Li & Fung is a global supply chain company that partners with major fashion retailers and brands. As the industry began shifting toward digital product creation, its innovation arm, UNIFi3D, explored how 3D tools and centralized digital workflows could improve the way fashion teams develop products.

Together, they set out to reduce reliance on fragmented tools, manual coordination, and physical samples by building a platform that could support faster, more connected collaboration across the product development process.

Project Overview

I worked on a Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform designed to centralize how fashion teams store, manage, and collaborate on product assets. The system brought together materials, trims, artworks, 3D garments, and product variations into a single, structured workspace.

The goal was to replace fragmented workflows—spreadsheets, emails, and disconnected tools—with a unified platform that made it easier to track assets, manage versions, and collaborate across teams. This allowed designers, merchandisers, and clients to move faster, reduce rework, and make decisions without relying heavily on physical samples.

My Role & Responsibilities

As the Product Designer, I led the end-to-end UX and UI design across core modules, including the Library, Records, Record Requests, and User Management. My focus was on translating complex fashion workflows into clear, structured interfaces that both technical and non-technical users could navigate confidently.

Key responsibilities:

Defined user flows across asset creation, management, and approval workflows
Designed wireframes, high-fidelity UI, and interactive prototypes
Built and maintained a scalable design system for consistency across the platform
Collaborated closely with UX researchers, product owners, engineers, and 3D specialists
Iterated on designs through testing, stakeholder feedback, and feasibility checks
Mentored junior designers and contributed to improving internal design processes

The Problem

Fashion product development was slowed by fragmented workflows, limited visibility, and reliance on physical samples. Teams worked across disconnected tools, making it difficult to track assets, align decisions, and collaborate across internal teams and external partners.

Fragmented Collaboration

Designers, merchandisers, suppliers, and clients worked across emails, spreadsheets, and offline files. Feedback and approvals were scattered, making it hard to track decisions or stay aligned across teams.

Slow, Sample-Driven Workflows

Each design required multiple physical prototypes, adding weeks to development cycles. This slowed iteration, increased costs, and made it difficult for teams to respond quickly to changes.

Difficult Digital Adoption

While 3D tools introduced new possibilities, many users struggled to manage digital assets and understand design iterations. Inconsistent systems and unfamiliar tools created friction, especially for non-technical users.

Complex Workflows at Scale

The platform needed to support multiple asset types, user roles, and workflows across global teams. Without clear structure, this complexity risked overwhelming users and slowing down everyday tasks.

Design Goals

To address the fragmented workflows and complexity of fashion product development, the design focused on making asset management, collaboration, and digital workflows easier to understand and use across teams.

Unify Collaboration in One System

Bring assets, feedback, and approvals into a single platform so teams no longer rely on disconnected tools. This reduces misalignment and makes it easier to track decisions across internal teams and external partners.

Reduce Workflow Friction

Simplify how users create, manage, and review assets by structuring workflows clearly. The goal was to minimize manual coordination and help users complete tasks without needing to navigate multiple tools or processes.

Make Digital Assets Easy to Manage and Use

Create a system where different asset types—materials, trims, 3D garments, and variations—are easy to organize, search, and understand. This lowers the barrier for users transitioning from physical to digital workflows.

Support Scalable, Multi-Team Workflows

Design flexible structures that can handle different roles, permissions, and workflows without adding complexity. The platform needed to work across teams, companies, and regions while remaining intuitive.

Enable Digital-First Decision Making

Provide enough clarity and detail in digital assets so teams can confidently review and iterate without relying on physical samples. This supports faster development cycles and reduces unnecessary production.

Design Process

The design process focused on understanding complex fashion workflows and translating them into structured, usable systems. Because the platform served multiple roles—designers, merchandisers, 3D teams, and clients—each step balanced usability, technical constraints, and scalability.

Discovery & Alignment

We worked with product owners, engineers, and stakeholders to define the platform’s direction and constraints. Early alignment helped clarify priorities and ensured the solution reflected real business workflows rather than adding unnecessary complexity.

User Research & Insights

UX researchers conducted interviews and workflow studies across internal teams and clients. We identified key friction points, including scattered asset management, unclear versioning, and breakdowns in collaboration between teams.

Workflow & Information Design

I helped define how assets move from creation to approval by mapping workflows, structuring records, and organizing relationships between assets. This established a clear information architecture that reduced ambiguity and made complex processes easier to follow.

Prototyping & Validation

We created interactive prototypes to test flows such as asset management, version tracking, and collaboration. Feedback from internal teams and clients revealed where users struggled, allowing us to simplify interactions and improve clarity before development.

Design System & Iteration

I contributed to building a scalable design system to ensure consistency across modules. Through regular feedback loops with engineers and stakeholders, we iterated on designs to adapt to new requirements while maintaining usability and coherence.

Solutions and Key Features

To address fragmented workflows and complex asset management, we designed a Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform that centralized how teams store, manage, and collaborate on fashion assets. The system introduced structured workflows, clearer asset relationships, and built-in collaboration tools to reduce manual coordination and improve visibility across teams.

Library — Centralized Asset Management

The Library acts as the central hub where all digital assets—such as materials, trims, garments, and 3D files—are stored, organized, and accessed across teams.

Problem

Assets were scattered across folders, emails, and different tools, making them difficult to locate, compare, and reuse. This slowed down design work and created inconsistencies across projects.

Design Decision

We designed a structured library that standardizes how assets are categorized, tagged, and searched. By introducing consistent metadata and filtering, users could quickly navigate large volumes of assets without relying on manual organization or naming conventions.

Result

Reduced time spent searching for assets
Improved consistency and reuse across collections
Enabled faster evaluation of materials and design options

Records — Single Source of Truth

Records serve as structured profile pages that consolidate all information related to a specific asset or product in one place.

Problem

Product information was spread across spreadsheets, documents, and emails, making it difficult to track updates or ensure teams were working with the correct version.

Design Decision

We created a unified record view that brings together visuals, metadata, supplier details, related assets, and version history. This allowed users to understand the full context of an asset without switching between tools.

Result

Eliminated confusion from multiple data sources
Improved visibility into asset variations and relationships
Reduced errors caused by outdated or inconsistent information

Record Requests — Structured Asset Intake

Record Requests provide a standardized workflow for submitting new assets into the system, especially from vendors and external partners.

Problem

New assets were often submitted through emails or unstructured files, leading to missing details, inconsistent data, and delays in processing.

Design Decision

We introduced a guided submission flow that required key information—such as specifications, materials, and files—before an asset could be created. This ensured data was complete and consistent from the start.

Result

Reduced manual data entry and follow-ups
Improved data quality across the platform
Streamlined onboarding of new assets into the system

Record Comments — Contextual Collaboration

Record Comments embed communication directly within each asset, allowing teams to discuss and resolve issues in context.

Problem

Feedback was scattered across emails and chat, making it difficult to track decisions or connect discussions to the correct asset.

Design Decision

We integrated commenting directly into records so users could leave feedback, ask questions, and resolve issues without leaving the platform. This kept conversations tied to the asset and visible to all stakeholders.

Result

Reduced miscommunication across teams
Made feedback easier to track and reference
Shortened review and decision-making cycles

User Management — Controlled Access Across Teams

User Management defines role-based permissions to support collaboration across internal teams, clients, and vendors within a shared platform.

Problem

Different stakeholders required access to different data and actions, but without clear controls, teams risked exposing sensitive information, making unintended changes, or creating confusion around responsibilities.

Design Decision

We designed a role-based permission system that allowed users to view, edit, or approve assets based on their role. This ensured that each stakeholder could access only what was relevant to their work while maintaining system integrity.

Result

Reduced errors from unauthorized edits or incorrect access
Improved clarity around roles and responsibilities
Enabled secure collaboration across multiple teams and organizations

Impact & Results

The DAM platform was not fully released at the time, but prototypes and testing sessions with internal teams and industry stakeholders provided strong validation of the product’s direction. Feedback consistently showed that centralizing assets and workflows made it easier for teams to understand, manage, and collaborate on product data.

Improved Workflow Clarity

Structured records and centralized assets helped teams quickly understand where information lived and how assets were connected. In testing sessions, users were able to navigate complex product data more confidently without relying on multiple tools or manual tracking.

More Efficient Collaboration

Embedding comments and consolidating workflows into a single platform reduced the need for back-and-forth communication across email and chat. Stakeholders could review assets, provide feedback, and track updates in context, improving alignment across teams.

Reduced Reliance on Physical Samples (Early Validation)

Interactive prototypes demonstrated how teams could review materials and product variations digitally. Stakeholders showed increased confidence in evaluating assets without needing immediate physical samples, indicating potential to shorten development cycles and reduce waste.

Increased Adoption of Digital Workflows

Even non-technical users were able to navigate prototypes, explore 3D assets, and participate in feedback sessions. This indicated that simplifying asset management and workflows lowered the barrier to adopting digital tools.

Reflection & Key Learnings

Designing the DAM platform required translating complex, unfamiliar fashion workflows into structured digital systems. One of the biggest challenges was balancing flexibility with clarity—different teams and clients had their own processes, but the platform needed a consistent structure to remain usable at scale.

Working across designers, merchandisers, 3D teams, and external partners reinforced the importance of aligning different perspectives early. Many design decisions involved negotiating tradeoffs between usability, technical constraints, and existing workflows, especially when introducing digital tools to teams accustomed to physical samples and manual processes.

This project also highlighted the importance of designing for adoption, not just functionality. Simplifying workflows, reducing cognitive load, and making digital assets easier to understand were critical in helping non-technical users engage with the platform. If I were to improve the process, I would invest more in structured user validation earlier to strengthen decisions with deeper behavioral insights.