Manufacturing · Design systems + Brand
One design system for a multi-brand manufacturer
Six brands, six broken component sets, one very patient IT team. We found the shared core, documented what had to stay distinct, and gave the group a system that scales without flattening the brands.
The situation
Each brand had its own site and tooling. Accessibility failed in four of six surfaces, and every component change required six separate conversations.
The brief
A shared token and component core with brand theming – plus an operating model the group could actually run.
How we worked
Audit
Inventory across six surfaces: 340 components reduced to 46 shared patterns with theme layers.
Architecture
Tokens split into core and brand layers; naming agreed with IT before build.
Migration
Surfaces migrated in sequence with visual regression checks per brand.
Operations
Contribution rules, release cadence and a maintainers group established.
Deliverables
What shipped at the end.
- Component and token audit
- Shared system with brand themes
- Migration plan and regression checks
- Documentation and contribution rules
- Maintainer onboarding
- Coverage dashboard
Artifacts
Material from the engagement.
What we would measure next
The numbers we would watch with the team.
We do not publish outcome claims. These are the measures we handed over with the work.
- component coverage per brand
- accessibility violations across surfaces
- time to ship a shared change
- contribution activity per quarter
Material
More from the engagement.
Related services
Where this work came from.
Related reading
Notes connected to this work.
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