Time to read: 3 minutes
Client: Wayfair
Industries: Tech, eCommerce
Collaborators: UX Designers, Engineers
Tools: Google Sites, Google Docs, Miro
Impact by the numbers
75%
reduction in time experts spent answering design system questions
50%
reduction in number of pages in the design system site
The Problem
Wayfair suppliers manage their product assortment using homegrown supplier portal Partner Home, a platform with over 90 unique pages and many different design styles.
While Wayfair’s Design and Engineering teams wanted to create a consistent, unified portal for its suppliers, a lack of clarity in their design system was preventing that from happening. Design system experts were expending too much time answering designer questions, preventing them from actually making changes to the platform.
The Process
Understand the problem – To get a clear picture of the challenges, I reviewed the existing design system site and conducted interviews with design system experts and Designer and Engineer users.
Map out proposed site structure – Next, I sketched out my proposed site info architecture in Miro. I fit new and existing content into the proposed structure, suggested several pages be archived, and then ran my proposal by the experts.
Write, revise, and publish – Armed with freshly minted Google Docs templates, I rewrote content for each page of the site, translating lengthy embedded documents into scannable design guidance. 25 pages, 3 months, and countless stakeholder-wrangling sessions later, I published the new design system site much to the delight of the Design team 🎉
The Product
✔️ An up-to-date, easy-to-use design system website
✔️ Content templates for each unique page type
✔️ A design system governance guide, to ensure content scalability as the design system grows