Georgia State University
We built a design system that Georgia State University could utilize and scale across all their several departments.
Duration
6 months
Tools
Balsamiq
Sketch
Role
Visual & web design
Partners
Senior UX Designer, Enablus
Creative Director, GSU, Public Relations
Overview
Georgia State University operates with several isolated departments. Each with a dedicated design person or team. However, there is not a shared philosophy or brand identity across the separate websites. These inconsistent designs were a pain for the public relations department as they were seeking to extend the university’s reach to a larger audience. With the launch of the News Hub, they desired to create an official design system they could scale and share with the other departments.
Approach
Before rushing into production on day one, we sat down with their creative director to zero in on a visual identity. We all curated screenshots of various styles we admired. The discussions following helped us determine what they liked, disliked, and ultimately aspired for the system to look and behave. Those couple days of collaboration resulted in a moodboard we believe reflected their brand, principles, and user expectations.
Now that we were aligned on the visual direction, we started small by only creating a style guide to begin forming the foundation of the design system. Both my senior designer and myself began with two different ideas for basic elements, such as typography, color, buttons, images, and social links. After two rounds of revisions, with client critiques, we were able to narrow down the style guidelines that would create a better experience for the customers.
