systematic approach: Developing a Multi-Brand Design System
Global Saving Group, in collaboration with two external consultants, initiated a project to standardize their brands and touchpoints. The goal is to streamline the user experience, ensure consistency across channels, and strengthen brand identity for better market positioning and future integration with partner platforms.
Context
Global Savings Group (GSG), the world's largest shopping engagement platform, embarked on a strategic mission to standardize and unify its diverse brand portfolio. With over 28 individual brands under its umbrella, GSG faced the challenge of ensuring a consistent and seamless user experience across various platforms and touchpoints. To achieve this, GSG partnered with two external design consultants to create a centralized design system that would not only streamline the user experience but also reinforce brand identity and coherence across all channels. The ultimate goal was to ensure smooth integration with future partner platforms, enhancing GSG's market positioning.
Challenge
GSG's challenge was multifaceted:
- Brand Consistency: The primary challenge was to maintain the unique design language of each brand while ensuring a cohesive experience across all touchpoints. This required a delicate balance between individuality and uniformity.
- Design Logic: A comprehensive design logic was needed to guide the creation, scaling, implementation, and management of design components across the entire brand portfolio.
- Unified Design System: The introduction of a unified design system was essential to streamline the design process, improve scalability, and enhance the user experience across all channels, both existing and new.
Process
The design system developed for GSG was built on the principles of Atomic Design, a methodology that emphasizes the creation of design systems starting from foundational elements and gradually building up to more complex components. The process involved several key steps:
- Foundational Elements: The project began with the creation of foundational design elements, including colors, typography, icons, surfaces, interactions, and spacing. These elements served as the building blocks for the entire design system.
- Component Creation: Leveraging the foundational elements, the team developed more complex components tailored to the unique branding of each of the 28 individual brands. This included buttons, forms, navigation elements, and other UI components.
- Page Templates: The next step was the creation of standardized page templates that could be adapted across different brands while maintaining a consistent structure and user experience.
- Centralized Component Library: All components and templates were centralized into a single library, making it easy to manage, update, and scale the design system as needed. This centralized approach ensured that any changes made would automatically propagate across all brands, ensuring consistency.
- Scalability for Future Growth: The design system was designed with scalability in mind, making it adaptable for integration with new partner platforms and enabling future growth without compromising on brand integrity or user experience.
Result
The successful implementation of the design system at GSG resulted in a cohesive and consistent user experience across 28 individual brands. The centralized component library improved scalability, allowing GSG to easily integrate new brands and partner platforms in the future. Each brand retained its unique identity while benefiting from a unified design approach, strengthening GSG's overall market position.
Moreover, the reusable and adaptable nature of the design system provided GSG with a solid foundation for future growth and expansion. This comprehensive project not only streamlined the design process but also reinforced GSG's commitment to delivering a superior user experience, regardless of the platform or brand.
In conclusion, the design system developed for Global Savings Group stands as a testament to the power of standardized design in enhancing brand identity, improving user experience, and driving business growth. Through a meticulous process grounded in Atomic Design principles, GSG successfully unified its diverse brand portfolio, setting the stage for continued success in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.