image coming soon

Consistency Team and Library Lead

Project
Product portfolio consistency

Role
UX and Visual Design Lead

Responsibilities
Lead a team of designers to identify and solve gaps in systems guidance and inconsistencies between offerings. Published guidance documentation and a library of reusable components.

Challenge

While our offerings are based on IBM’s Carbon Design System, Carbon’s guidance is not always robust enough to cover the specific needs of individual offerings.

Goal

Identify and fill guidance gaps, and provide extended guidance specific to our offerings to promote consistency at our more granular level.

Team

Within our business unit, I led a team of 3-4 designers to define component and pattern guidance specific to our use cases.

Process

  • Prioritize

    We had a backlog of issues that team members could contribute when they noticed inconsistencies or the need for further guidance. We prioritized what to work on based on team needs.

  • Gather & Refine

    We gathered screen shots and use cases from across our portfolio as a reference base for our guidance. Through team syncs and working sessions, we drafted guidance to address team needs.

  • Feedback

    Once we had drafted written and visual guidance for our use cases, we had stakeholders participate in a Mural activity to gather feedback. We then took the feedback and reiterated.

  • Publish

    Once approved by stakeholders, we finalized all documentation and specs, and published assets on our team website. When applicable, we created Figma components in our library.

Example guidance

  • Modal sizes (when to use each size)

  • Date and time formatting for localization

  • Empty states illustrations and text for tight spaces

  • Field heights and spacing

  • Condensed and collapsing header versions for page density

Images are unavailable due to copyright restrictions.

Deliverables

  • Figma component library

  • Written guidance complete with dos and don’ts, best practices, and example images.

  • Team website with guidance organized by component or pattern, and links to all deliverables and reference materials.

Outcome and takeaways

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Gained additional experience working with design systems and applying my skills in identifying and solving visual and interaction consistency issues.

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Gained leadership experience and eminence

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