esSense Design System

Context

Sensedia, a reference in APIs and digital integrations, was facing a growing problem of visual inconsistency and fragmented user experience across its products. Design components varied from team to team, making scalability and collaboration between designers and developers more difficult.

My mission, together with a fellow designer, was to create a Design System from scratch, unifying the product identity and ensuring greater efficiency for the team.

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The problem

After mapping the products and interviewing stakeholders, we identified the main challenges:

• Lack of standardization: different versions of buttons, tables, and typography across the same ecosystem.

• Frequent rework: designers often created components from scratch due to the absence of a centralized library.

• Developer difficulties: unclear documentation increased implementation time.

Our goal was to solve these issues by building a system that was scalable, accessible, and easy to use.

The building process

Creating a solid foundation:

Documentation and adoption:

Before developing components, we established essential rules to ensure consistency::

• Standardized color palette and typography for all products.

• A spacing and grid system to maintain harmony between elements.

• Accessibility guidelines following WCAG standards to ensure usability for everyone..

With the foundation in place, we moved on to creating essential components like buttons, forms, and tables. Each component was designed to be versatile and adaptable, minimizing the need for unnecessary variations

Building components:

We created an interactive documentation portal where anyone on the team could find guidelines and practical usage examples. To encourage adoption, we promoted:

• Internal workshops to introduce the system to the team.

• Practical guides and real-world examples showing the benefits of the new design.

  Ongoing support to ensure teams embraced the transition with ease.

Results and impact

• Rapid adoption: within 6 months, 90% of internal products were already using the esSence Design System.

• Reduce development time: creating new screens became 30% faster.

• Improved user experience: more consistent and intuitive interfaces.

• Simplified onboarding: new designers and developers got up to speed faster.

Beyond the numbers, we received extremely positive feedback from designers and developers who praised the system's practicality and clarity.

Reduced development time

Learning

This project helped me grow my skills in product, UX, and UI design. I learned to:

• Collaborate with various stakeholders to ensure the Design System met everyone's needs.

• Create scalable solutions that not only solve current problems but also support future evolution.

• Balance aesthetics and functionality, making sure the products were both beautiful and efficient.

Collaboration with my design colleague was essential to the project’s success, and together we transformed how design was done at Sensedia.

Conclusion

Creating a Design System from scratch was both a strategic and technical challenge, but the impact was huge: more efficient design, better collaboration, and more consistent products.

This case highlights my ability to work end-to-end, from research and strategy to implementation and adoption, ensuring real product impact.

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