Profile Racing E-commerce Website
Profile Racing, a respected manufacturer of high-end BMX and mountain bike components, needed to bring their business online. While they had established manufacturing and fulfillment operations selling to dealers and taking phone orders, they lacked a proper e-commerce presence. Without an online store, they were missing sales opportunities as customers increasingly expected to research and purchase bike parts online.
Beyond just selling products, Profile wanted their website to reinforce their credibility in the BMX community by showcasing the professional riders and teams they sponsored, demonstrating that their components were trusted by top athletes.
My Role
As designer and front-end developer at Haneke Design, I led all visual design, UX, and CSS development for this 8-12 week project. I worked with a developer to build the custom social feed, but handled the WordPress implementation, WooCommerce configuration, and all custom styling myself.
The Challenge
Profile's products required extensive customization options. BMX hub wheelsets, for example, needed up to 13 different configuration categories, each with multiple choices for axle type, spoke count, color options, etc. The challenge was making this level of customization accessible without overwhelming customers with dozens of dropdown menus.
Additionally, as my first WooCommerce project, I needed to understand the platform's capabilities and constraints before designing. Rather than creating mockups that might not be technically feasible, I took a design-in-browser approach, setting up the Wordpress site and storefront first and exploring what could be customized through CSS and configuration.
The site also needed to serve dual purposes: functioning as both an e-commerce platform and Profile's primary marketing website, complete with social proof from their sponsored athletes.
Product Configuration
For products with multiple configuration options, I implemented a multi-select system that let customers customize components step-by-step. Product listings displayed price ranges (lowest to highest configuration) to set clear expectations, along with multiple product photos and related items to support cross-selling.
While we discussed more sophisticated configurator interfaces, the budget and timeline required working within WooCommerce's standard capabilities. The key was organizing options logically and providing clear visual feedback as customers made selections.
Social Integration & Brand Credibility
Profile sponsored approximately 60 professional BMX and mountain bike riders across multiple teams—athletes whose endorsement carried significant weight in the cycling community. Rather than burying this in a separate "Team" page, I made it central to the homepage experience.
I designed a masonry grid layout featuring real-time posts from riders' social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. This constantly-updating feed showcased Profile components in action through competition videos, practice runs, and event coverage. The masonry layout handled the varied content formats (photos, videos, short text updates) while keeping the page visually dynamic.
Working with a developer to build the custom social aggregation system, we created a feed that positioned Profile not just as a parts manufacturer, but as an integral part of the competitive cycling world.
Home page
Shop page
Product Details page
Home page
Home page
Home page
Shop page
Shop page
Shop page
Product Details page
Product Details page
Product Details page
Custom Theme Development
The site used WordPress with a custom theme built on the Layers page builder, making it easy for Profile's team to update marketing and informational content. I wrote all custom CSS for both the Layers theme and WooCommerce, creating a cohesive experience from product browsing through checkout.
Taking a design-in-browser approach allowed me to understand WooCommerce's structure and quickly iterate on styling without the back-and-forth of mockup approval and implementation. This was particularly valuable for the shopping cart and checkout flows, where I could test the actual user experience while designing.
Impact
The site launched successfully in 2015, establishing Profile Racing's first true e-commerce presence and eliminating the need for phone orders. The project earned a Gold AVA Digital Award for excellence in web design and user experience.
Nearly 10 years later, the site remains live and actively maintained — a testament to the solid foundation we built. The social feed continues to showcase sponsored riders, and the product configuration system still handles Profile's complex customization options. While I don't have access to post-launch sales data, the fact that Profile has continued using this design for nearly a decade suggests it effectively serves their business needs and customer base.