The Situation
When my creative director and I joined Likemind, there was only one other designer at the company. Unfortunately, no UI kit had been established, and a CSS scan of one of the brands revealed over 250 shades of grey and 150 shades of teal, the primary brand color. This lack of consistency was unsustainable and significantly hindered our ability to scale and collaborate effectively on projects.
The Task
I began by conducting a thorough inventory of all established brands at Likemind, analyzing fundamental elements such as color palettes, font choices, button styles, component libraries, and ad layouts. After evaluating the unique aspects of each brand versus common patterns across projects, I collaborated with the content and marketing teams to develop distinctive brand voices. I then engaged with the engineering team to identify any design-to-development handoff challenges. Based on this comprehensive research, I created a scalable design system template to streamline and unify the design process for all in-house brands.
The Action
The next phase involved creating a scalable template for each brand, which included defining naming conventions and organizing our Figma projects. I collaborated with the engineering team and a peer who had experience with the Twitter design system to establish consistent naming conventions for all components in our library. After obtaining approval from all cross-functional teams on the example file, I developed individual brand kits and created a design-to-development handoff package.
The Result
The implementation of the new system led to a significant 50% reduction in time spent on design and development. This improvement not only streamlined our workflows but also ensured that all 15 brands adhered to WCAG standards, enhancing accessibility and inclusivity. The system fostered better collaboration among designers, creating a more efficient and cohesive team environment. Its scalability optimized our ability to expand the design team, enabling us to manage increased project demands seamlessly while maintaining high-quality, accessible outputs.
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