Designing a Design Team
How might we imagine a design environment focused on scalability, morale-boosting, and our collective sanity?
Project Brief
Client
Key Bank
Role
Group Design Manager
Industry
Retail and Commercial Banking
Why Are We Here?
While developing Key Bank's new design system, we faced challenges ensuring our designs were on-brand and understanding the complexities of atomic design. In response, our design team set out to define standards and create a platform for confident design aligned with our brand and marketing teams.
We were building a design system that considered micro-level components, but we needed help understanding how these components related.
We were painting a portrait without the canvas.
I mean, Yes...
The Design System Team
Overall, they were doing a good job, improving the many UI inconsistencies and baking accessibility into literally everything (which was terrific). Still, they struggled to convince the other designers, managers, and stakeholders of the overall design strategy and vision.
My Job as a Manager
was to recognize the loopholes, align the teams and stakeholders, and show the value of design. In order for the design organization to become efficient I had four main objectives I needed to address.
1
Design Team
Aligning the design team in the right direction was crucial for our success, enabling them to collaboratively solve problems
2
Stakeholders
By demonstrating the benefits of good design, we could gain the support of our stakeholders and ensure expectations were aligned
3
Enterprise
Gain trust across the organization and demonstrate how enterprise design can be utilized across multiple platforms and devices
4
Vision
To confidently outline the long-term goals for the organization's design team by providing designers with clear direction, inspiration, and motivation
Course of Action
Host a three day offsite workshop to address the challenges and present findings to stakeholders
Design Team Collaboration
As a product design group, we did not have the opportunity to openly discuss our ideas for a reimagined design direction. We all had our opinions, but we needed an open forum to collaborate and properly showcase our unique visions for the product's future. This exercise was not just limited to design team members - it was all-inclusive and attended by various product team members regardless of their background, title, or expertise.
Individual Mood Boards
Every participant was tasked with creating and presenting a mood board to display and explain their ideas and visual inspirations. We aimed to revolutionize our design delivery approach and gain insight into each participant's design perspective in relation to our roadmap
Combined Group Mood Boards
After individual presentations, each designer selected 10 items from the mood boards, creating our team's mood board. This exercise helped us create a common design language and discuss how these components could complement Key Bank's design system.
What is "Unbank-like"?
Common Themes
A common topic of conversation throughout this exercise was, “How might we make banking - not look like banking?”
Playful illustrations, serifs, and bold typefaces were popular among the designers and aided in establishing a common design vision. This exercise also allowed junior and mid-level designers to take ownership of the creative process.
Next Steps
Now that we had a collaborative and defined design direction, we then partnered with an outside design agency to take our vision to the next level. Not that we didn’t think we could do the work, but having an outside agency’s perspective furthered our collaborative environment both internally and with project stakeholders.
The Results!
The design team fully engaged with the external design agency. Their objective was to gather the workshop results and collaborate with the design agency to present the new designs to us within a week. The deadline added quite a bit of pressure!
By relocating the design team from their usual office environment, we gave their creative minds the freedom to flourish. They were already well-versed in the brand and Key Bank's guidelines, but this exercise allowed them to break down barriers and think more strategically.
The Presented Designs Were a...
By accounting for stakeholder and executive priorities, we could include their visions in our deliverables, which excited them and helped prioritize and fund our proposed design direction.
"Breath of Fresh Air"
Project Results & Metrics
The initial investment in design resulted in a twofold return. We achieved internal alignment among the design team, design systems team, marketing departments, and executive leadership teams. We developed and presented our strategy, focusing on a Northstar vision. Although the presented designs were just a proof of concept, they continued to be used as we started implementing design enhancements. Even years after this workshop, some initial designs are still being implemented today.
Value of Design
Years after this workshop, some initial designs are still being implemented today. Talk about a return on investment!