Scaling Design System Knowledge Across a Design Practice

Roles

Lead workshop facilitator

Duration

2 months

Impact

Workshop content incorporated into company's design system training.

Project Overview

While helping build and evolve a client's design system, I realized many of the challenges my team encountered—accessibility, scalability, documentation, and cross-team collaboration—weren't unique to my project. Rather than keeping those lessons within one account, I designed and facilitated an interactive workshop that brought together 22 interaction designers to share experiences, identify best practices, and collectively imagine what a stronger design system process could look like.

The Problem

Weathering the Same Storm

Within the federal space, accessibility is a critical need. On my project, we integrated accessibility guidelines into foundational components and later evolved it so it could scale. This experience highlighted how accessibility considerations should be embedded seamlessly into a system from the ground up and not treated as a separate checklist.

But that didn't make it easy. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Even choices as small as color were probed, prodded, and ultimately questioned. What surprised me was that these challenges weren't unique to my project. In fact, other teams were encountering similar problems without a shared forum to exchange solutions.

I realized the real opportunity wasn't improving one design system: it was helping other teams avoid solving the same problems twice. After sharing some of these lessons informally with an Interaction Design Craft Lead, I realized there was an opportunity to bring the broader practice together for a more structured conversation.

The Challenge

Sharing is Caring

Given the company held a number of federal contracts, all its designers considered accessibility in their decision-making every day. And yet, it was rarely spoken of collectively. Much like components within a design system, there were patterns in the way we all worked but there was an opportunity in formalizing it. This made me question:

How might we transform lessons learned on one client project into shared knowledge that benefits an entire design practice?

Goal #1: Scale Design System Literacy

Projects across the practice were at different stages of design system maturity. I wanted to establish a shared foundation and vocabulary based on atomic design that designers could build upon together.

Goal #2: Reduce Duplicated Effort

My project had developed practical approaches to accessibility, documentation, and collaboration. Sharing those lessons could help future teams avoid reinventing the wheel.

Goal #3: Create Internal Synergy

By bringing together designers from different accounts, I could foster stronger relationships, surface hidden expertise, and generate ideas no single team would have developed alone.

The Catalyst

Let's Hit Rewind

Prior to the workshop, I joined my project during its initial MVP phase. During that time, I helped establish a foundational design system while designing across multiple features.

This timeline illustrates key milestones and the evolution of the design team throughout my project. While the team underwent considerable restructuring across multiple periods, I contributed to the initial design system and (upon returning to the project) enhanced it to better manage design debt. These efforts supported more efficient feature delivery and helped maintain strong client engagement.

When I returned for a second contract period, I evolved that foundation to better support accessibility, inclusivity, and scalability. Those experiences ultimately inspired me to share our lessons with the broader design practice.

MVP Design System

Multiple designers contributed to the project over time, with team members joining and leaving throughout the engagement. Since we were constrained to Adobe XD, hand-offs were tricky and lacked version control. The initial design system was created in four months to alleviate design debt.

Design System 2.0

Upon returning to the project for a second contract period, I approached the initial design system like any other design artifact: as something to iterate and improve. It ended up acting as a catalyst to ensure scalability, promote accessibility, and foster inclusivity while improving collaboration across the project team.

Workshop Design & Structure

Designing the Experience

To advance craft learning of design systems, I led the two UX designers on my team in the execution of an interactive workshop for the broader interaction design practice. Instead of defining a single "correct" design system process, I wanted to surface expertise from across the practice and capture ideas designers could apply within their own teams. By combining presentations with reflection and collaborative exercises, the workshop transformed individual project experience into knowledge the broader practice could build upon.

I. Introduction

We introduced ourselves as the design team behind the client project and established the workshop's objective: sharing lessons learned while creating space for designers to learn from one another.

II. Project Background

To ground the discussion, we walked through the project's evolution, highlighting how team changes, design debt, and accessibility challenges that shaped our approach to the design system.

III. MVP Design System

I shared how I built the initial design system, introduced the concept of atomic design, and we reflected on what worked well and what we would approach differently.

IV. Individual Reflection

Participants independently reflected on their own experiences with design systems, including the tools, processes, constraints, and successes they've encountered. Beginning with individual reflection ensured every voice was heard before moving into group discussion.

V. Design System 2.0

We presented the evolution of the design system, demonstrating how accessibility, inclusivity, and scalability informed our second iteration and the lessons that emerged along the way.

VI. Collaborative Ideation

Participants worked in small groups to design their ideal design system process, drawing from both the workshop content and their own experiences. Teams then shared their ideas, creating opportunities for designers of all experience levels to learn from one another.

Workshop Outcomes

We’re All in This Together

The workshop extended beyond a single learning session. It surfaced expertise across the design practice, created opportunities for collaboration, and transformed project-specific lessons into resources that could benefit future teams.

22 Designers Engaged

Interaction designers from across projects and levels participated in the workshop, contributing diverse perspectives on design systems.

7 Specialists Identified

Workshop activities surfaced designers with deep expertise who could support future design system initiatives across the practice.

4 Process Concepts

Groups collaboratively proposed approaches for improving how design systems could be created and maintained.

1 Company Training Resource

The workshop content was later incorporated into organization-wide design system training.

2 Co-Facilitators

I led two fellow UX designers in planning and delivering the workshop.

3 Workshop Activities

The workshop included a presentation, individual reflection, and collaborative ideation to encourage participation rather than passive learning.

Recieved Feedback

Kudos & Thank You’s

Beyond the immediate discussion, the workshop generated enthusiastic feedback from designers and leadership alike. The strongest indication of its lasting impact came when portions of the workshop were incorporated into the company's internal design system training, extending its reach beyond the original audience.

We are starting to pull together a design systems training and would love to reuse content that has already been used. And I hear this workshop was a goodie!

Design Operations Lead

Good work out there. That craft workshop was great and well put together!

Interaction Design Craft Lead

This workshop was lovely.

UX Designer

Reflections

Personal Musings

Before this experience, I thought design systems were primarily a collection of components. After facilitating this workshop, I realized they are equally about creating shared understanding. The most valuable outcome wasn't agreeing on a single process: it was creating space for designers across projects to learn from one another. This experience ended up fundamentally changed how I think about design leadership. Design isn't only about creating artifacts—it is also about creating systems, environments, and conversations that help others do better work.

Design systems scale interfaces. But conversations?

‍Conversations scale design teams.

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