Blu Vape Brand Reimagination
A 5-Day Google Design Sprint
Cross-functional sprint team used a time-boxed 5-day Google Design Sprint to rapidly reimagine Blu Vape's brand experience, moving from ambiguity to a validated product and loyalty direction — all within one week.
The Challenge
Blu Vape was experiencing declining market share driven by increased competition, shifting customer expectations, and weakening brand loyalty.
"We're losing market share to competitors who better understand what customers want. Our brand feels outdated, and the experience is fragmented." — Marketing Director, Blu Vape
Existing experiences were heavily product-focused, with limited emotional connection, long-term engagement, or community value. The core challenge was to reimagine Blu Vape's brand experience — moving beyond product features toward loyalty, trust, and connection — while reducing risk and avoiding long, speculative redesign cycles.
A 5-day design sprint was chosen to create alignment quickly, explore bold ideas safely, and validate direction before committing to further investment.
My Role
UX/UI Designer & Sprint Facilitator
Team Size
5 members (cross-functional)
Sprint Team
- Sprint Facilitator (Me)
- Product Manager
- Marketing Lead
- Retail Stakeholder
- UX Researcher
Tools Used
Project Status
Validated prototype with 87% user approval, ready for development consideration
The 5-Day Sprint Framework
Each phase of the sprint was completed in one focused day, forcing rapid alignment, intentional scope control, and decisive prioritisation.
- Understand — Map the problem space
- Diverge — Explore a wide range of ideas
- Decide — Converge on a single direction
- Prototype — Build to learn
- Test — Validate with real users
5-Day Sprint Process
Understand
Map & define
Diverge
Sketch solutions
Decide
Choose direction
Prototype
Build to test
Test
Validate ideas
Day 1: Understand — Mapping the Challenge
Sprint Goal: Build a shared understanding of the problem space in one day by aligning business objectives, brand ambition, and user needs.
I facilitated strategic alignment sessions with C-level stakeholders and department leads, ensuring buy-in across marketing, product, and retail teams. Through structured stakeholder interviews and collaborative workshops, I helped the team articulate Blu Vape's vision, rebranding goals, and commercial challenges while managing competing priorities and conflicting viewpoints. In parallel, I led customer journey mapping exercises that identified friction points, emotional drop-offs, and missed opportunities across the end-to-end experience.
Stakeholder Management Approach
- Facilitated C-level alignment sessions to secure executive sponsorship
- Conducted one-on-one stakeholder interviews to understand individual concerns and priorities
- Mediated between marketing's brand vision and retail's operational constraints
- Built consensus through structured voting and decision-making frameworks
Key Activities
Stakeholder Interviews & Lightning Talks
Facilitated discussions with key stakeholders to clarify business objectives and sprint success criteria.
Competitive Analysis
Reviewed competitor approaches to loyalty, trial, and retail engagement.
Customer Journey Mapping
Mapped the existing journey identifying gaps, friction points, and emotional drop-offs.
Synthesis & Problem Statements
Synthesised insights into clear problem statements and sprint objectives.
Research Artifacts
Outcome
By the end of Day 1, the team aligned on a single challenge:
How might Blu Vape build long-term relationships and brand loyalty, rather than one-off transactions?
Day 2: Diverge — Exploring Wide-Ranging Solutions
Sprint Goal: Generate a broad solution space in one day, prioritising volume and creativity over feasibility or refinement.
We ran collaborative ideation sessions focused on loyalty, product trial, and tobacconist engagement. To avoid groupthink, each team member worked independently before sharing ideas.
Approach
- Crazy 8s and detailed concept sketching
- Individual ideation followed by group critique
- Thematic clustering to identify patterns and opportunities
Key Themes Emerged
Customer Loyalty
Personalised rewards and community features
Product Trial
Starter kits and sampling to reduce barriers
Retail Partnerships
Tools and resources for tobacconists
Themes were deliberately constrained to concepts that could realistically be prototyped and tested within the remaining 48 hours.
Day 3: Decide — Converging on the Best Direction
Sprint Goal: Select a single concept to prototype based on user value, business impact, and feasibility within sprint constraints.
All concepts were evaluated using dot voting and a decision matrix assessing desirability, business value, and technical feasibility. Final decisions were made by the sprint decider, informed by team discussion.
Winning Concept: Integrated Loyalty Ecosystem
We selected an integrated loyalty ecosystem that connected digital experiences with physical retail touchpoints and emphasised community and personalisation.
Why This Concept Won
- Delivered the strongest long-term brand differentiation
- Balanced customer value with realistic implementation
- Could be meaningfully prototyped and tested within two days
- Unified loyalty, trial, and retail into a single system
Core Features
Tiered loyalty rewards
Curated starter kits
Community engagement
Tobacconist portal
Exclusive experiences
Day 4: Prototype — Building to Learn
Sprint Goal: Create a realistic prototype in one day to test core assumptions — without building the full product.
With limited time, my focus was on building just enough fidelity to test usability, value perception, and emotional response. I prioritised clarity, flow, and brand tone over exhaustive screen coverage.
Process
- Mid-fidelity wireframes to validate information architecture and flows
- High-fidelity prototype reflecting the refreshed brand direction
High-Fidelity Mobile Screens
The final colored designs showcased the refreshed brand experience:
Key Flows Prototyped
Every screen was designed with one question in mind: "Can this be meaningfully tested tomorrow?"
Day 5: Test — Validating with Real Users
Sprint Goal: Validate or invalidate assumptions in one day and define clear next steps.
We conducted moderated usability testing with 8 participants, including existing customers, potential new users, and tobacconist representatives. Each session lasted approximately 45 minutes and focused on key user flows.
Testing Scenarios
- New user onboarding and starter kit selection
- Loyalty engagement and rewards appeal
- Retail integration and partner value
Results
Strong Positive Signals
- 87% found the loyalty programme appealing
- 100% of new users understood and valued the starter kits
- 75% expressed interest in community features
- All tobacconists valued the centralised resource hub
Areas for Improvement
- Simplify reward redemption
- Clarify community guidelines
- Improve mobile flow performance
- Strengthen onboarding guidance
User feedback confirmed that the concept shifted perception from "selling products" to "building a relationship."
Before & After Metrics
Before
After
Client Testimonial
"Andrew's facilitation transformed our week. He navigated conflicting stakeholder priorities with diplomacy, kept us focused under tight deadlines, and delivered a prototype that exceeded expectations. The 87% user approval speaks for itself — this sprint gave us the confidence to invest in a complete brand transformation. His ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on design was exactly what we needed."
Sarah Mitchell
Head of Product, Blu Vape
Conclusions & Impact
In just five days, this sprint transformed a broad brand challenge into a validated, customer-centred direction. Instead of months of speculation, Blu Vape gained clarity, stakeholder alignment, and evidence-based confidence.
The sprint demonstrated how focusing on experience, loyalty, and community — rather than product features alone — could meaningfully differentiate the brand.
Recommended Next Steps
Key Learnings from This Sprint
Constraints Sharpen Prioritisation
Designing under tight constraints emphasised learning over perfection and forced clear decision-making.
Structured Collaboration Unlocks Direction
Cross-functional alignment and user-centred thinking can unlock confident direction — even under significant uncertainty.
Value of Rapid Validation
The Google Design Sprint proved invaluable for rapid alignment, decision-making, and validation without long speculation cycles.
Sprint Reflection
This project reinforced the value of the Google Design Sprint as a tool for rapid alignment, decision-making, and validation. Designing under tight constraints sharpened prioritisation and emphasised learning over perfection.
Most importantly, the sprint showed how structured collaboration and user-centred thinking can unlock confident direction — even under significant uncertainty.