B2B design: domain knowledge beats aesthetics
In B2C, a beautiful interface already carries you far. In B2B, it can be polished and still useless. The professional buyer isn’t there to browse: they’re there to complete a precise, often repetitive task, under trade constraints that aesthetics don’t solve. The real lever of B2B design is knowing the trade of the person using the tool.
I learned this co-directing the Richardson site redesign with an external agency.
The trap: beautiful mockups disconnected from reality
Richardson runs an uncommon duality: a showcase for B2C, a genuine e-commerce site for B2B, tradespeople and construction firms. During the redesign, the external agency produced aesthetically accomplished proposals, but several stayed disconnected from a professional buyer’s real usage. My seniority in the company gave me domain knowledge the agency didn’t have; my role was to realign their proposals so our professional customers could use them.
Restructure around the real task
The realignment was structural. On the account area, I brought back to the centre what a professional needs: banking and accounting data (outstanding balances, statements, IBAN). On the quote area, fields tied to the trade database (jobsite reference, branch, article codes) and quick access to order tracking.
Nothing visually spectacular. But that’s the difference between a tool you endure and one that fits the work gesture. In B2B, perceived value comes from there: does this save me time on what I do ten times a day?
The designer as translator of the trade
An agency brings a fresh eye and visual rigour; what it can’t have is the memory of usage. My contribution was that translation: turning an external creative vision into something aligned with operational reality. It’s the same reflex as with a design system: the deliverable is the fit to real work, not the screen. (The detail: Realigning an external creative vision with trade reality.)
In fairness: having left the company shortly after launch, I have no hard performance figures under real conditions, but the design logic itself holds.
In short
- In B2B, aesthetics aren’t enough. A polished mockup disconnected from the task fails.
- Domain knowledge is the real lever. What an external agency can’t have is the memory of usage.
- Restructure around the work gesture. Outstanding balances, IBAN, jobsite reference: that’s where perceived value sits.
- The designer translates the trade. Align a creative vision with operational reality.