Design System for Secure Code Warrior Created in Figma.

VIEW IN FIGMA

I had the pleasure of completing this work upon arrival at SCW, as it was the quickest way to give new team members I was hiring and onboarding with the goal of transitioning from startup to scale-up. I needed a consistent framework for my vision for a much needed accessible visual redesign, and so we could maintain consistency across each team working async in different timezones while meeting our enterprise customer’s needs. This strategy was effective though a substantial investment in time up front from myself. Originally we had an agency lined up however they weren’t able to complete the work in the timeframe needed. We faced hiring and onboarding challenges for employees, contractors, vendors, at the time coupled with a recent change in hands in leadership. I had a team of 2 to begin with and an entire design department to scale up quickly with little existing I could re-use, so I rolled up my sleeves, put in some extra hours for a short period of time, prioritized projects, delegated production design work to a lower cost design agency, then outsourced the development to a wonderful agency in Sydney that had the front-end skills we needed. My design system is accessible meeting the WCAG 2.1 level AA standards in relevant areas, something customers were requiring yet we lacked upon my arrival. I worked with our VP of engineering and principals to for a much needed redesign based on experience, accessibility standards, customer feedback and data. After onboarding a handful of designers to our foundations team, I delegated the ongoing design system work after establishing and testing the key UI elements with UserTesting.com. While putting in extra hours isn’t ideal or sustainable long term, once in a while we find ourselves arriving in unique situations where we simply refuse to fail – so we get creative with our solutions, find ways to streamline processes, craft reusable design patterns, and make the impossible possible.