Context

Refurbished tech is often seen as unreliable or low quality.

Hoxton Macs needed to change that. The business had strong fundamentals, but the brand and experience didn’t reflect it.

Customers lacked trust. Product condition was unclear. Lower-grade stock was hard to sell.

My role

Co-founder and Head of Design.

I led the work across brand, product, and customer experience. I:

• Defined the brand positioning and identity

• Designed and built the Shopify experience

• Led user research and service design

• Created systems to improve how products were understood and sold

Key work

Repositioned refurbished as premium and accessible

I defined a clear position: high-quality Apple products, without the premium price.

The identity focused on trust, clarity, and confidence, moving away from typical “reseller” aesthetics.

Designed a clearer path to purchase

I structured the site around how people actually shop:

• clear product categories

• simple comparisons

• reduced friction at key decision points

This helped customers find the right product faster and with more confidence.

Built a system to explain product condition

A core problem was how to communicate condition across different products.

I designed a flexible system to explain grading (A, B, C) clearly across:

• MacBooks

• iMacs

• Mac minis

This worked across desktop and mobile, and made condition easy to understand at a glance.

Turned lower-grade stock into a viable offer

Through research and testing, I found customers were willing to buy lower-grade products if:

• pricing was clear

• condition was explained properly

This shifted internal thinking and allowed the business to sell stock that was previously avoided.

Impact

• +16% conversion rate within six months

• Supported growth from £177k to £17.5m revenue

• 40% year-on-year revenue growth linked to improved product clarity

• 60% reduction in returns related to condition

• Maintained 5.0 Trustpilot rating (1,500+ reviews)

  
  

Reflection

This was about more than brand or UX. It was about building trust in a category where trust is low.

By making product condition clear and honest, we unlocked demand that already existed. Good design didn’t just improve the experience — it changed how the business operated.