Learning from the users
To begin, I contacted the people involved in maintaining the design system and interviewed each of them individually, from both the engineering and design teams. This helped me to identify the pain points and areas that needed improvement.
Loose file structure
Never sure where to look for components
Never sure where to look for components
Lack of clarity
Not having proper documentation
Not having proper documentation
Not enough collaboration
From both the Design and Engineering teams
From both the Design and Engineering teams
Poor transparency
Ending up with very similar components
Ending up with very similar components
Team retro
After organising the key takeaways from the interviews, I scheduled a retro with everyone involved in the previous step to discuss the issues we had identified. During this session, we brainstormed solutions and discussed our priorities and in the end, both teams were aligned and agreed on the next steps ahead of us.
Establishing next steps
Next, I went away and created 4 core values based on the key points identified in the previous sessions, accompanied by a strategy that would help us navigate through this journey.
Collaboration
Practising cross-team and cross-discipline partnerships to help our design system keep moving forward
Practising cross-team and cross-discipline partnerships to help our design system keep moving forward
Care
Ensuring careful attention to detail in everything that we create in order to deliver precise assets
Ensuring careful attention to detail in everything that we create in order to deliver precise assets
Freedom
Enabling designers and developers to carve their own paths and provide suggestions and improvements to our design system
Enabling designers and developers to carve their own paths and provide suggestions and improvements to our design system
Automation
Finding opportunities to simplify and evolve our process over time to make the experience of designing easier
Finding opportunities to simplify and evolve our process over time to make the experience of designing easier
I then presented the plan to the key stakeholders, outlining the priorities and how we were planning to address the issues we were facing and got the sign-off to start moving things forward. This was already the first step to ensuring cross-team collaboration was in place and that both design and engineering teams were on the same page about the goals of the project.
Clearing doubts collectively
To help everyone easily find the components they needed, I conducted a card sorting exercise going through all 4 different Geometry libraries. This exercise helped us not just to identify and agree on the most effective and intuitive way to organise the components but also on what needed to be archived.
Efficiency and scalability
To help streamline the design process and reduce inconsistencies, a semantic colour system was put in place and optimised for both teams. I collaborated closely with our developers and designers to create and ensure the effectiveness of these colour tokens.
The semantic approach allowed us to save time and eliminate inconsistencies when flipping components between light and dark modes, and as the business moves towards white-labelling its platform, the colour tokens have become even more valuable. Designers can now quickly swap libraries and turn any existing prototype into any brand's colour within seconds, which has had a positive impact on our design process and the white-labelling revenue stream.
Raising awareness
Two initiatives were implemented to help increase awareness of the work being done in the design system. A monthly company-wide newsletter was created to update everyone on all the work happening behind the scenes followed by a slack channel where people could ask questions, and send feedback and suggestions.
"No user will remember your design system. They will remember the experiences your product enabled them to have."
– Fabrício Teixeira on lessons.design
– Fabrício Teixeira on lessons.design
Wrap up
Working in Geometry was a rewarding experience that allowed me to dig deep into users' pain points and behaviours to uncover valuable insights, combined with a cross-team collaboration to generate effective solutions. Through user-centred design, I was able to create experiences and frameworks that were tailored to the unique needs of our team and our product. As a result, we have seen a significant improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of our design process.
