Zara
Digitising the clothing design process.
A streamlined internal tool to speed up and simplify final approval of clothing designs.
OVERVIEW
Zara’s Legal reviews used to happen through emails and spreadsheets, making the process slow and unclear. I was asked to redesign this workflow and turn it into a dedicated module inside their new internal platform.
My role
Lead Designer UX/UI
User research & analysis
Usability testing
Team
Product Owner
Technical Lead
5 Developers
Designer
Timeline
6 months (12 Sprints)
Problem
Zara needed a unified and scalable way to manage Legal reviews across teams and brands, replacing a fragmented process with a clearer, more consistent workflow. How might we create a cohesive platform that streamlines reviews and adapts to multiple teams and workflows?
Impact
I defined the strategic direction and a 40+ key screen foundation that now guides how Zara scales Legal workflows across all eight Inditex brands. I also aligned Zara Legal and Inditex Digital on a clear product direction, and introduced AI-driven risk detection and a scalable structure to make Legal reviews more consistent and efficient across the organisation.
DISCOVERY PHASE
I began by interviewing employees from Zara’s Legal department to understand their way of working, main challenges, pain points, and long-term product vision.
Through the audit, I discovered that the process was manual, fragmented, and dependent on outdated tools such as email, Excel, Google Images, and even an internal tool similar to Paint for feedback.
EXISTING WORKFLOW
USER REQUIREMENTS
Faster turnaround Times
Some queries must be resolved in less than 24 hours, while urgent ones need responses in under 3 hours.
Capacity to handle high volume requests
The system must handle a high volume of daily requests efficiently and consistently.
Clear team communication
Legal reviews often involve multiple departments, so a clear communication flow is essential to avoid delays or confusion.
INITIAL CONCEPT
Based on the workflow audit and user interviews, I created a set of key screens that reflected the actions the Legal team was actually performing. They were designed to fit within the existing internal tool, following and respecting the current UI and design system to keep the product cohesive.
ITERATIVE FEEDBACK SESSIONS
After designing the first key screens, I conducted several feedback sessions with the client to review the proposal and uncover additional needs that hadn’t been identified at the start. These discussions helped refine the approach and ensure alignment with their expectations.
Leading a cross-department call to align on priorities and next steps.
Client feedback session on card info and preview states.
SOLUTION
Final outcome
- Highlights
Each highlight showcases a key aspect of the new Zara internal tool. For every feature, I’ve outlined:
The design goal it supports
The user problem or scenario it addresses
The solution implemented to solve it
A video demonstration showcasing how the Legal Department tool seamlessly integrates with the Zara Design tool and collaborates with other departments.
Query cards
Each enquiry appears as a card with all key details at a glance — product image, department, reference number, title, risk level, last interaction, and collaborators.
This layout makes it easy to scan, prioritise, and understand status and ownership without opening each item.
Feature #1
Kanban for queries
Before, enquiries arrived by email, making ownership and status unclear. With the Kanban system, everything sits in one place. Each enquiry moves through stages (New, In Progress, Pending, Resolved, Cancelled), and the team can filter or check status at a glance.
This solves the problem of lost emails and confusion, making it clear who owns each enquiry and what needs to happen next.
Feature #2
Moodboard
The Legal team can revisit the Moodboard to see the inspiration images designers used and check that none are too close to the final design.
Sharing the same visual references makes the process more transparent and supports faster, clearer decisions.
Opens Designer’s visual references
Legal downloads files that believe are relevant for feedback or final verdict
Feature #3
Query detail page
The Query Detail page brings everything into one view — proposal images, conversation, and status. Designers can share sketches or samples, and Legal can comment and approve directly.
Centralising all information makes the process faster and removes unnecessary back-and-forth.
Feature #4
Easy comparison
Before, checking for plagiarism or similarity meant searching in different places and doing manual reviews. Now, the product makes it simple to compare the garment sent by the designer with the references collected by Legal, all in one view.
It also allows side-by-side comparison with the inspiration board, making the review process faster and more reliable.
Feature #5
AI-Powered Image Search
Legal teams used to rely on manual Google searches to check plagiarism risks — slow and inconsistent. The new AI image search scans each design automatically and compares it against internal and online references, flagging similarities in seconds. This replaces a manual, error-prone task with a faster and more reliable workflow.
Feature #6
Consultations history
Verdicts used to be shared in different places, making past decisions hard to track. Now, all comments, revisions and final verdicts stay in one place. Once Legal submits a decision, the status updates automatically and syncs with the Kanban view so everyone can see the outcome immediately.
Feature #7
Verdicts made simple
The final stage of the review allows Legal to issue a verdict directly within the enquiry. They can mark a design as approved, needs revision, or rejected, adding contextual comments when needed.
Once submitted, the verdict instantly updates the status and notifies the Design team, ensuring everyone stays aligned and the process keeps moving without delays.