The problem

Achieve global design consistency while minimizing implementation costs.

Some 50 corporate websites in 35 different languages were all following disparate historic versions of the company’s global design system. From one site to the next, you might have seen different:

  • Colors,

  • Typography,

  • Components,

  • Design patterns, and

  • Layouts.

Forcing compliance among all 50 websites would have cost millions. The challenge was to find creative ways of bringing global unity to the brand while balancing implementation costs.

Unifying 50 websites in 35 languages under one WCAG-compliant global design system

CORTEVA GLOBAL DESIGN SYSTEM

ROLE

Lead UX Designer

Research
Data evaluation
Design
Executive presentations
Governance recommendations
Implementation strategy

CONTRIBUTIONS

Figma
Google Developer Tools
Excel

TOOLS

Desktop
Tablet
Mobile

PLATFORM

Grids & Spacing
Colors
Typography (U.S.)
Typography (International)
Inputs
Buttons
Navigation
Tables
Maps
Layouts
Design Patterns
Usability Best Practices
Strategic implementation recommendations

PLATFORM

The Solution

  1. Minimum of WCAG AA compliance across all websites.

  2. Create a unifying design system that weighs the benefits of aesthetics and usability against global implementation costs.

  3. Solve for desktop and mobile.

PRIORITIES DEFINED

  • Systematically audit every Corteva website across the globe (Americas, Europe, Australasia, Africa, and Asia Pacific) using Chrome Developer Tools to inspect the CSS code.

  • Catalog deviations and variations in spreadsheets.

  • Evaluate estimated costs for implementing mandated style updates globally.

  • Present recommended “Must-haves” and “Nice-to-haves” for bringing all sites into alignment.

  • Research other global design systems such as Carbon (IBM), SLDS (SalesForce), Material Design, Atlassian, and Primer (GitHub).

APPROACH

Sometimes the costs to implement an input style, font stack, component, or design pattern that was the preferred choice of global HQ were found to be financially prohibitive.

Therefore sometimes we had to make compromises by conforming the official “source of truth” Design System to match global majority of implementations, rather than the other way around.

As an advocate for optimal usability and design consistency, some of these decisions were personally difficult for me to recommend. But sometimes you have to put on your “business hat” and act as a responsible steward of your client’s budget.

This approach saved the client millions of dollars.

COMMENTS

Look. This stuff ain’t rocket science. But you can’t skip it, and you sure as heck can’t fake it.

– Patrick Kuntz