Joining the digital transformation effort
In 2017, I embarked on a transformative journey with Principal Financial Group's Digital Experience Lab in Chile, aiming to revolutionize the digital presence of Principal’s suite of companies. As the 15th employee in a fast growing organization, my role quickly evolved from Staff UX Designer to Design Manager and later to Head of UX, reflecting the need for design leadership in a company at the cusp of digital reinvention.
Identifying the challenge
My early analysis revealed a disjointed digital experience, characterized by inconsistent UI elements across our platforms. This inconsistency, evident in everything from button designs to color schemes, signaled the need for a unified approach to enhance trust and usability in our financial services.
Vision for a unified Design System
The limitations of existing component libraries led to a pivotal realization: we needed to create our own design system. This vision aimed at consistency and efficiency, fundamental for building customer trust in the financial sector.
Gaining support and building the case
Convincing business leaders of the design system's value was critical. I presented compelling arguments highlighting benefits like reusable components, streamlined collaboration, and long-term scalability. This advocacy secured the necessary support to move forward.
Pioneering a Design System
Guided by ambition and constrained by resources, my team led the creation of Principal Chile's inaugural design system. We crafted a UI component library to achieve visual consistency across digital platforms. Crucially, in partnership with engineering, we developed coded components—this collaboration was pivotal, ensuring our design intentions seamlessly translated into practical application. Together, we laid the foundation ahead of the wider enterprise initiative, setting a precedent for innovation at Principal.
This endeavor not only exemplified the importance of aligning goals among engineering, design, and product teams but also showcased the transformative impact of strategic vision and cross-functional collaboration on achieving digital excellence.
Collaborating beyond borders
Our collaboration with the corporate UX team was a first for the organization, setting a milestone. We were crucial in establishing the enterprise-wide design system with our initial visual designs, setting its tone and theme. The design system underwent many iterations, but its visual identity originated from our contributions.
This partnership helped create a unified design language and ushered in a new era of collaboration within the organization. Our efforts kickstarted the development process, showcasing how a strong vision from the start can inspire continuous refinement.
Legacy and impact
The journey from recognizing the need for a design system in Chile to influencing a global design strategy exemplifies the power of strategic vision and collaboration. Today, the value of such a system in accelerating product development and ensuring design consistency is universally acknowledged, marking a significant milestone in Principal’s digital evolution.
Visit Principal's enterprise design system at design.principal.com