EE Design System
Saving est £15M yearly for the organisation and powering new EE digital experiences on web, iOS and Android.
Overview
Loop is EE’s new design system. Used by product design teams to design and build new experiences for web and mobile apps.
The design system was a keystone element in a large digital transformation for EE, with an internal user base of over 800 people, it serves two platforms: Web (React), and Mobile App (Flutter).
The design system is built and maintained by a dedicated in-house team, I joined at it's formation.
Key outcomes
£
15
m
cost savings
Estimated YOY and set to increase as the design system matures.
30
-
50
%
speed increase
In end-to-end project delivery by product teams. More time to solve bigger problems.
95
%
adoption
All new EE experiences are built using the design system and old journeys are upgrading.
System makeup
Design tokens
Figma components
React web components
Flutter mobile components
Guidance website
Icons
Fonts
Analytics
Support
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Design leadership
I joined the team at its formation in 2020 and helped to grow it from three to twenty-three people.
In collaboration with the product owner and stakeholders we created the design system's vision, strategy, design principles, design process, definitions of ready and done, and a contribution model.
We set up the design system team to be transparent and collaborative. We had a large slack channel and a clear service level agreement with the community.
I collaborated with internal brand teams, external agencies, product design teams, accessibility specialists and more.
I held bi-weekly one-to-ones with my design team and established regular peer-review sessions for us to share work and get feedback in a safe and productive environment.
I advocated and contributed to design systems culture at BT and EE by regularly presenting at key events, and helping to support and educate our community through leading tutorials, support calls and workshops.
Design foundations
I worked on various foundational elements of the design system including:
- Establishing design standards and principles.
- Established an end-to-end process for design to development.
- Collaborated on new digital design language in a working group.
- Created primitive and semantic tier design tokens.
- Created templates for Figma libraries.
- Launched the guidance website.
- Created the colour system with support for light and dark modes.
- Co-created the typography system.
- Created the layout and grid systems.
- Created the iconography system.
Component design and Documentation
I researched, designed, and documented multiple components of varying complexity for both responsive Web, and mobile apps.
The components are used by Product Design teams at large scale, and have over 100k+ inserts on Figma weekly on average with low detach rates.
Accessibility award
I was awarded first prize at the BT GAAD awards for contributions towards accessible design and collaboration at BT Group.
Testimonials
Joe was instrumental in helping to grow and scale the BT Design System.
Joe joined the Design System team and immediately established himself as a valued member of the team by being a team player and a highly skilled design practitioner.
Joe is fantastic at building relationships with those around him, and working collaboratively with teams to achieve the goals of the Design System.
It was an absolute pleasure working with Joe. His Design System knowledge, experience and skills make him someone that would enhance and benefit any team.
Matt Gottschalk
Joe is a true collaborative partner. He makes sure that every aspect of Accessibility is considered when working on components.
He welcomes the collaboration from the Accessibility Team, listen to our inputs and is focused on finding the best solutions.
Joe truly knows his craft. We are lucky to have him as a colleague.
Ronise Nepomuceno
I worked side by side with Joe while at BT Group and I couldn't have hoped for a better team mate.
Joe's attention to detail, willingness to get involved, drive to make the right things, truly user centred and inclusive approach, and not to mention technical ability is a rare combination to find in one person.
I learned things from Joe that I will take with me into the rest of my design career. I hope we get to work together again one day!
