Case Study
Implemented and Enriched a Corporate Design System
ZS was at significant risk of losing our beachhead with key clients due to the appearance of our solutions; the CTO’s first request when I joined was to make our products more visually consistent. Eager to please in my new role, I quickly learned that the legacy tech stack made a centralized solution impossible.
Company & Position
ZS Associates, Associate Partner & later Partner (2011-2024)
Details
As the UX team grew, we struggled with the speed of UX delivery, inconsistency across regions / offices, and limited re-use of design assets.
Eight years after my arrival at ZS, a major effort to re-brand the firm was the catalyst that enabled us to address visual consistency and appeal.
Actions
- Version 1, 2012 – 2015.
- Audited all solutions for common interface elements, standardized interaction design and associated code where possible.
- Analyzed competition (Salesforce, Veeva, others). Educated our Shareholder Council on risks and opportunities, requested investment.
- Version 2, 2015 – 2018.
- With UX support, company re-branding efforts included guidelines for digital assets.
- Conducted a new competitive assessment (Aktana, Veeva, Axtria, IQVIA). Began separation of front- and back-end code. Created a centralized repository for design standards and consumption of front-end code.
- Version 3, 2018 – 2020.
- Established a dedicated function in the product group (with UX, front-end developers, and a fractional product manager) to create new standards, lead governance, and deliver communication, etc.
- Defined new processes for how full stack UX, visual design, and developers would work together.
- With the launch of Custom Development in consulting, we quickly learned that our clients didn’t want a homegrown design system. We leveraged the design standards from Product UX, and established a matching component library on a modern tech stack.
Outcome & Impact
- A ten-year journey in which we delivered three generations of a progressively more sophisticated design system.
- Significantly reduced feedback on system appearance from sales teams and clients by transitioning disparate solutions into a cohesive suite.
- Increased throughput of UX deliverables, ensured consistency of appearance of licensable software and bespoke solutions.
- In Consulting, streamlined and standardized design work, reduced engineering effort by 35% and test by 40%.
Work Samples
Version 1. Standardization of ad hoc design components.
Version 2. Homegrown Design Standards, no central repository.
Version 3. Professional Design System with integrated code, governance, etc.
Version 3b. Same design standards, but on a modern tech stack for bespoke client solutions hosted on their infrastructure.
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