Creating a shared design language for HR products

The Challenge

HR products needed a more consistent interface language and a clearer way for designers and developers to work from the same patterns.

Engineering initially saw the system as visual styling and doubted its development benefits. Engineers preferred custom implementations that met their requirements and preserved ownership of the end product.

What I Helped Lead

With a Staff UX Designer and Staff Developer, I used a goals-and-anti-goals workshop to align the team. We explored more than 50 component concepts, demonstrated the design-to-development workflow, and documented patterns in a shared repository.

I proposed a component exercise and defined what we would build, then gave engineers room to try the components and create variations. I helped evaluate and review the result before presentation to leadership.

What Changed

The work established a common direction across five HR products and gave the team a reusable starting point for future interface decisions.

In my recollection, the exercise gained Engineering support for the overhaul. Engineers began assembling editable interface demos live in meetings using components, variations, and code styling. That is a reported change in working practice, not a measured claim about development savings or a completed production rollout.

Attribution

Project details and approximate figures are based on my firsthand recollection; original internal records are unavailable. Intended benefits and estimates are identified separately from delivered outcomes.