Next UK, Next Internatioanl and Total Platform
A huge transformation of legacy, fragmented code bases into a single responsive, component-driven system, enabling quicker, modern and consistent experiences across Next UK, International, and Total Platform partners.
In summary, this was an overhaul of a very old legacy system that had become very challenging to work on and deliver modern experiences.
As this project was effectively a rebuild, there was a huge amount of analysis required. Much of the documentation from old projects was either redundant or “miss-placed” meaning the only way we could be sure was to work with POs, BAs and Devs to collectively identify many years of logic and rules. To make this even more challenging, we were moving from an adaptive solution to a responsive one and unfortunately the mobile and desktop experiences were not consistent.
To enable true scalability across multiple brands and markets, we adopted a design token approach as the foundation of our design system.
At the time, Figma variables were not mature enough to support the level of theming required. To overcome this, we defined a structured set of style tokens covering colour, typography, spacing, elevation, and component states.
This allowed us to:
In practice, this meant a template could be fully rebranded in minutes by swapping token values, enabling the vision of “one site, many experiences” to become operational.
To ensure consistency between design and implementation, we adopted a Storybook-first approach to component development. All components were initially built and validated in Storybook before being integrated into the React front end. This created a controlled environment where components could be developed in isolation, free from product dependencies.
This approach allowed us to:
A major focus of delivery was reducing duplicated build effort across multiple estates. Shared foundations and reusable modules helped accelerate implementation while improving consistency and maintainability.
By shifting effort toward a more unified platform, the team could spend less time rebuilding solved patterns and more time improving the experience itself.
Validation happened throughout the process, from early concept checks and journey reviews to regression testing and live trading confidence checks.
This ensured the system was not only visually consistent, but operationally sound across devices, brands and markets before rollout.
Platform Modernisation delivered measurable impact across experience, performance, and operational efficiency. What once took weeks could now be achieved in hours, enabling rapid onboarding of new brands and consistent delivery across markets. This project established a long-term foundation for growth, positioning the platform to scale efficiently while continuously improving user experience.
