W_ DESIGN
SYSTEM

TYPE
DESIGN SYSTEM
YEAR
2023
ROLE
FOUNDER
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>
W_ DESIGN SYSTEM
A desire to future-proof our design process resulted in the creation of a robust design system that codifies our best practices making it easier to maintain consistency at scale over the long term, even as our team and products continue growing.

EVOLVING THE WORKFLOW

FOUNDING PRINCIPLES

VISUAL IDENTITY

ALIGNMENT & ADOPTION

GATHERING INTERNAL FEEDBACK

EVOLVING THE WORKFLOW

Creating a comprehensive design system for our products and services became a growing necesity after years of fragmented and inconsistent experiences across our offerings, becoming clear that we needed a unified system to streamline our design and development workflow.

Improving consistency and cohesion across our suite of products by establishing a common language of interface patterns, components, and design principles, we enable our users to more easily transfer learning from one product to another under our brand, improving usability and customer satisfaction.

Not only did the foundation of the system assist our external users, but also our internal team by boosting team collaboration and efficiency. With a centralized design system as a single source of truth, our designers and developers can work from the same foundations instead of reinventing the wheel for each new product and feature, saving precious time and reducing duplication of effort.

FOUNDING PRINCIPLES

As a company that aims to seamlessly connect healthcare professionals and enable effective communication, a core design system that aligns to our mission was critical from the start.

Universal Usability, Trust & Credibility, Accessibility, Adaptability, Cohesiveness

Together, these principles guide the creation of flexible, usable and coherent interfaces that build trust between healthcare professionals while seamlessly enabling communication and collaboration. They are woven into the fabric of our design system.

VISUAL IDENTITY

The W_ System creates a defined visual identity that gives all our applications and interfaces a coherent, distinctive and professional look aligned with our brand. This visual identity is crucial for our users for several reasons, including a carefully selected logo that elicits our mission of seamless connection, visual consistency across our platform and a overall unified identity

In addition to strengthening external perception, our cohesive visual identity provides important benefits for our internal teams., allowing engineers, designers and product managers have streamlined processes for building new features by adhering to proven conventions and patterns and spending less time reinventing basic elements, allowing more focus on innovation.

ALIGNMENT & ADOPTION

Getting internal teams aligned on and adopting our core design system was critical as a growing startup. We took four key steps:

1. Included stakeholders from engineering, product and design when creating the system to ensure it met diverse needs.
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2. Actively educated teams on the design language and its connections to user goals through workshops and documentation.

3. Identified advocates across the organization to promote system adoption through modified processes and active support.

4. Established contribution workflows and standards to enable improvements under proper governance.

This comprehensive effort resulted in over 80% of active projects utilizing the design system within months of launch, accelerating delivery and unifying the user experience.

GATHERING INTERNAL FEEDBACK

While driving initial adoption of our design system was critical, gathering ongoing feedback from internal teams was just as vital to ensure the system evolves with our products and processes, seeking feedback through multiple channels including surveys & alignment sessions.

As well as gathering feedback, we made sure to gather measurable results tracked over time which included a 42.5% reduction in component development time and a 36% time reduction in feature design work

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