Profile experience gets an uplift

Overview

Profile experience gets an uplift

I led product design on a refreshed account profile for Sotheby’s collectors and bidders. The previous experience scattered bids, auctions, consignments, and invoices across separate flows, each with its own UI patterns. The brief was to bring them under one shelf, in one design language, on every device a collector might use to follow a sale.

The challenge

One profile, every collector

Collectors at Sotheby’s span first-time bidders to long-tenured patrons, and the profile had to make every audience feel at home. The team aligned on a clear set of goals before pushing pixels.

Research

Listening to collectors and the people who serve them

I partnered with the PM to interview collectors and the specialists who manage their accounts: where they pick up the journey, what they expect at the moment of a live auction, and which signals they trust. We mapped the existing profile end-to-end and synthesized the patterns into a shared vocabulary the design system and engineering teams could build against.

The solution

One profile, every device

The refreshed profile brings every account view, bids, auctions, consignments, and invoices, into a single shelf with consistent navigation, filters, and live status. Tablet, desktop, and mobile all use the same component library so a bid placed at home feels identical to one placed in a saleroom.

Profile states

Status, prompts, and the gentle nudges in between

Profile work is mostly states, the small banners and inline prompts that tell a collector what they can do today and what's blocking them from doing more. I treated each one as a first-class screen so the chrome stays calm whether someone is verifying ID for the first time or running into a shipping restriction on a Tuesday afternoon.

Upgrade to bid, buy, and sell

First-time collectors land on a profile that explains exactly what their account can and can't do today, paired with a single Complete your profile CTA so the upgrade path is one tap from anywhere on the page.

ID verification prompt

A high-contrast banner up top tells collectors what's gating them from bidding and links straight to the upload flow, so the rejection happens here, not in the middle of a saleroom.

Email verification confirmation

After requesting a reset, a green system banner confirms the email is on its way and points back to the unverified row, so collectors can finish re-verifying without leaving the page.

Tax verification, where it lives

Inline reminders sit inside the account they belong to, so a tax verification nudge shows up on the individual or company that needs it instead of as another full-width banner up top.

Restricted shipping

When an address falls outside what Sotheby's can ship, a red inline notice flags the issue on the specific account and offers two recovery links, so the collector can correct it without contacting Client Care.

Something didn't load right

When something fails to load, the profile collapses to a calm error state with a single Refresh action and Client Care numbers, so a collector always has a path forward instead of a dead screen.

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Bids in flight

Every status a bid can take, in one shelf

Bids needed a shared shelf that could hold every status a lot can pass through, before, during, and after the hammer, on web and mobile. Each variant below uses the same row, the same status chip family, and the same account-number metadata, so a collector tracking five sales reads them all at the same glance.

Can't bid just yet

Pre-verification, the empty state explains why bidding is gated and routes the collector to Complete your profile, with Client Care numbers as a fallback for legacy paddle holders.

No active bids

Verified collectors with nothing in flight get a calm empty state and a single View auctions CTA, instead of a blank page that leaves them wondering whether something broke.

High bid

A green status pill confirms the collector currently holds the high bid and pulls the lot, sale time, account number, and current bid into a single shelf at the top of the page.

Absentee bid

A blue status pill marks lots where the collector left an absentee bid, so they can keep tabs on a sale they can't watch live without digging through emails or calling Client Care.

Outbid

When a collector is outbid, the row surfaces the new high bid in-line, so they can decide whether to come back over the top in one move instead of opening the lot detail to find the number.

Multiple lots, multiple sales

Bids group by sale and account number, with statuses pinned next to each lot, so collectors tracking several auctions at once can scan the entire field instead of opening each sale separately.

Withdrawn lot

When a lot is withdrawn from sale, the row dims to a neutral chip so the collector knows immediately that no further action is needed and the bid is closed out.

Won

Gold status pills celebrate the lots a collector has won, with the final lot price and the same shelf treatment used during the live sale, so the historical record reads as part of the same profile.

Lost

Lost lots roll up under a quieter pink status, with the collector's bid and the estimate kept on screen for context, instead of disappearing the lot from the profile altogether.

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The impact

A unified profile across the auction house