Run Out Groove Vinyl – Content & Commerce Experience

A fan-driven vinyl platform that plays like a greatest hits album

Challenge

Run Out Groove Vinyl needed a hybrid digital storefront that combined editorial content and direct-to-consumer vinyl sales. The business model required educating fans on limited-edition pressings while also driving urgency to vote and purchase within short windows. The catch? The backend stack was split between Drupal (for content) and Magento (for commerce), with no existing front-end blueprint to unify the experience.

My Role

UX Strategy, Creative Director, UI Designer

My Approach

I was brought in early with only the business requirements in hand: no wireframes, no design direction, and a dual-CMS constraint. I architected a seamless front-end experience that merged content and commerce through intuitive flow and hierarchy. The homepage and artist pages served as editorial launchpads, while product pages were optimized to encourage voting, pre-ordering, and social sharing.

I delivered the full creative stack (concept, layout, UI design, and production-ready assets) and collaborated directly with developers to ensure fidelity between vision and implementation.


Result

The site launched with a clean, high-contrast interface that gave vinyl fans a premium, modern experience without sacrificing clarity or speed. Voting participation exceeded internal projections, and the unique hybrid model became a template for future experimental D2C vinyl projects at the label. The site has remained largely intact in structure and design, continuing to serve as an active platform years after launch.

Key Skills & Technologies

  • UX Architecture

  • UI Design

  • Front-End Strategy

  • Responsive Design

  • Magento

  • Drupal

Lessons Learned

A seamless front end can mask even the most complex backend stack when you start with user flow, not system limitations. Owning both UX and creative can accelerate alignment across business, dev, and design. Editorial and commerce can work together when the user journey is purpose-built to support both.

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