How might we master design
consistency within an enterprise?
CLIENT
ANZ Wholesale Digital
SITUATION
Leading multinational bank experienced challenges due to inconsistencies in design elements between its retail and institutional divisions. These inconsistencies affected user experience across institutional products and caused difficulties for developers due to a fragmented foundation of product design elements published in Storybook.
TASK
Aimed to address these challenges by establishing a comprehensive and compliance focused design system tailored for institutional banking needs. This system would bridge the gap between retail banking oriented elements and the specific requirements of institutional banking.
ACTION
Figma Enterprise was adopted as the platform for designing, developing and managing the new wholesale digital design system. Its collaborative and compliance enhancing features, such as 'branching', allowed isolated work on design components and streamlined approval processes. Additionally, integration with Storybook was established to retain a single source of truth in Figma, preventing the need to update documentation in Storybook separately. This integration ensured that designers and developers stayed up to date with every element change in real time.
Advocating for accessibility was a key focus in creating the new design system. By referencing the Australian Government Style Manual and WCAG, the content design aimed to provide equal access for all users. Workshops were organised to support teams during the onboarding process, ensuring a smooth transition to the new design system.
RESULT
The design system led to significant improvements by unifying collaboration, enhancing efficiency, improving governance, and strengthening consistency. A single source of truth for design teams and developers enhanced seamless collaboration. The use of branching improved the development workflow by enabling isolated component work and streamlined approval processes. Figma's features supported compliance and adherence to design standards, while the platform ensured a unified and consistent design language across the bank's digital products.
The strategic decision to design and develop the design system in Figma Enterprise not only resolved the initial design inconsistencies but also transformed the approach to product development, encouraging a collaboration culture and continuous improvement in design practices.