Project Themis
An internal effort from Digital Marketing designers to identify and solve for consistency and efficiency issues that plagued the entire company across different organizations. Prior to the latest rebrand initiative my team was one of the key players in beginning this internal initiative.
Problems:
Inconsistent visual expression and fragmented experience UX
Particularly visible when users navigate between high traffic properties to get support: (Citrix.com > Support.Citrix.com > Discussions.Citrix.com > Docs.Citrix.com)
Inefficiency of similar or redundant patterns being designed by different teams within Citrix
Solution:
Developing a shared UX/UI library with detailed guidelines, designers can build a web presence that cohesively represents Citrix
Key Contribution
I was the chosen liaison to represent the Web Experience team. By running weekly meetings with representatives from the Brand and Product teams, we could ensure that discoveries were being shared and democratically making adjustments to our shared libraries.
I also lead the charge in consolidating our company color palette - audit, test, implement.
Identify inconsistencies across digital properties and products
Data collection across all teams allowed us to see the problem from a holistic view. As time goes on, teams are challenged with different design needs that don’t always fit what everyone else is doing.
There is no excuse for execution to be so different from one another, especially from a company with global impact.
Seeing these issues across the board, made it an easy sell that the investment in creating a bullet proof design system was needed.
Color palette
An internal audit of the colors being used showed that over time different variations of the approved color palette had been introduced based on different needs from different teams.
After conducting different usability and compliance tests (primarily WCAG 2.0 AA and AAA) and then working with team members to figure out their individual needs, I settled on my recommendation of this gradients system that includes the primary colors that were a part of the approved corporate palette.
Implementation
Using Frontify, we build out a user friendly UX/UI pattern guideline that could be shared internally as well as with third party vendors.
By creating a system of checks and balances as well as culture for transparency between teams we made it simple to share, iterate, and implement.