Home / Work / Digital Product + Experience Design / Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels
High-Velocity Digital Scaling & Omni-Commerce Performance
OVERVIEW:
Since 1968, Hot Wheels has been the definitive brand for speed, power, and performance.
What began as a line of 16 die-cast cars has exploded into a global lifestyle franchise that spans gaming, digital content, and life-sized automotive experiences. For over 50 years, Hot Wheels has fueled the "Challenger Spirit" in fans of all ages, maintaining its position as the #1 selling toy in the world.
ROLES:
Senior Art Direction
Lead UX/UI Design
Design System Architecture
Cross-Functional Leadership
INSIGHT:
Performance Under Pressure
The primary challenge for this high-velocity brand was Systemic Fragmentation. Hot Wheels required a digital platform as high-performance as its products. Operating in a siloed ecosystem caused friction for the "super-fan" collector and the gift-buying parent alike. To scale the "Challenger Spirit" globally, the brand needed to move from fragmented legacy properties into the Mattel "One-Store" unified e-commerce architecture.
STRATEGY:
The "One-Store" Evolution
Within the Mattel ‘One-Store’ agenda, we engineered a design system that could pivot from Barbie’s "Glamour" to the high-octane "Performance" of Hot Wheels without breaking the core logic.
The Component Skeleton: We utilized a shared library of responsive components to ensure structural consistency across the Mattel portfolio.
Dynamic Brand Skinning: I led the UI efforts to define a "High-Octane" visual language—leveraging bold orange accents, performance-driven typography, and aggressive imagery—while maintaining the shared architectural integrity of the store.
Omni-Commerce Integration: We optimized the "One-Store" logic to handle high-traffic "drop" events and complex product assortments, creating a frictionless path-to-purchase.
OBJECTIVE:
High-Performance Commerce
The goal was to deliver a consumer-centric shopping experience that eliminated the boundaries between "browsing" and "buying," ensuring the system was robust enough to handle global retail velocity.
RESULTS:
Scalable Performance
The "One-Store" initiative successfully consolidated Hot Wheels into the Mattel digital footprint, accelerating "Speed-to-Market" and ensuring the digital home of the world's #1 toy is built for the future of high-velocity retail.
