Building a Design System from the Ground up

Overview

In the realm of my business unit's services, I proudly co-founded the very first UX team, embarking on a year-long journey of collaboration with project delivery, IT, developers, and management. Our mission? To champion UX as a core service and simplify the intricate world of development and design. The initial goal was clear: create a unified experience across diverse apps within my employer's internal ecosystem.

The magic happened as I gave life to a bespoke design system, meticulously shaping it from the ground up. Rooted in approved brand designs, this system was not only uniquely repurposed for our internal applications but also tailored with precision to elevate the experiences of our users.

The process

The Audit

Components

In the realm of my business unit's services, I proudly co-founded the very first UX team, embarking on a year-long journey of collaboration with project delivery, IT, developers, and management. Our mission? To champion UX as a core service and simplify the intricate world of development and design. The initial goal was clear: create a unified experience across diverse apps within my employer's internal ecosystem.

The magic happened as I gave life to a bespoke design system, meticulously shaping it from the ground up. Rooted in approved brand designs, this system was not only uniquely repurposed for our internal applications but also tailored with precision to elevate the experiences of our users.

Colors

Having pinpointed crucial components like site headers, navigation panels, forms, alerts, and cards as the foundation, my focus shifted to harmonizing the visual palette. Delving into the realm of color patterns, I meticulously identified existing hues, including the occasional random ones, across the vast spectrum of apps and websites.

The goal? To seamlessly align old colors with new ones, crafting a unified and visually cohesive experience for users. This meticulous process of color pattern recognition became a cornerstone in ensuring a smooth transition and elevating the overall aesthetics of my employer's internal ecosystem.

Typography

Taking my investigation further, a revelation unfolded: the typography across many applications was subpar, failing to align with the real-world scenarios of users utilizing smartphones outdoors in bright daylight. Recognizing this critical issue, my focus pivoted towards an extensive typography overhaul.

In response, I heightened the weight and opted for sharper fonts, ensuring optimal readability and visual appeal in various lighting conditions. This strategic shift not only addressed a design flaw but also elevated the overall user experience in the ever-changing environments my users navigate.

The Rollout

To bring the design system to life, I embarked on a strategic rollout plan. Initially, I focused on establishing processes and guidelines, fostering a collaborative environment between the design team and developers. Recognizing the need for a gradual transition, I began with creating basic components guidelines and a cheat sheet to facilitate the identification of new components. This transformation, of course, unfolded over time, acknowledging the complexity of updating numerous apps simultaneously.

A consensus was reached to implement changes gradually, aligning with the pace of new projects. As opportunities arose, collaboration ensued, and apps were updated progressively with the new system. Simultaneously, I delved into user and operational prime research to understand app connections. This exploration laid the foundation for merging functions and tasks, leading to the creation of the most revolutionary and visionary project in my business unit—an innovation that set new standards in the company.

Wrap-Up

In steering the evolution of our digital realm, I've skillfully streamlined a significant chunk, deftly orchestrating an 80% consolidation of the most frequented apps and aligning over 30% of the less-traveled ones. This intentional consolidation isn't just about upgrading user navigation; it's a shrewd optimization of our application landscape. What's more, I've been at the helm of strategic decisions to shift crucial functionalities from assorted apps to the streamlined ones, effectively whittling down overall app usage.

The infusion of the design system has been a game-changer for our technical intricacies, deftly sidestepping redundancy while turbocharging our development processes. This substantial upgrade has translated into a noticeable boost in development speed, nurturing a more nimble and responsive workflow.