ZS
Enterprise Design System

A story of a 3 month initiative that transformed how we build digital products. This project addressed fundamental challenges around consistency, quality, and accessibility across our enterprise analytics platform.
ZS's design team was struggling with a fragmented design ecosystem. Their existing Pattern Library lived in Sketch, creating significant barriers to collaboration and efficiency:

The problem

Fast-moving analytics business

ZS's design team was struggling with a fragmented design ecosystem. Their existing Pattern Library lived in Sketch, creating significant barriers to collaboration and efficiency:

Observations

  • Broken components scattered across multiple tools
  • Static, inflexible design assets that couldn't adapt to evolving needs
  • Inconsistent experiences across products due to lack of a single source of truth
  • Scaling problems for a design team of 200 working alongside 1,200 engineers

Approach

Rather than simply converting existing Sketch files, I architected a new system from the ground up using industry best practices:

Atomic Design

Followed a methodology to create a logical, scalable component hierarchy

Token Architecture

Install tokening for consistent design decisions across all components

Documentation

Comprehensive documentation to support adoption across a large, distributed team

Process Highlights

Audit & Strategy
Analyzed existing patterns and identified gaps
  • Gathered end to end expriences
  • Looked at usage patteerns
  • Interviewed designers on pain points
  • Analyzed files and components

Token Foundation

Established design tokens (color, typography, spacing, etc.)
  • Established a token architecture to accommodate brand flexibility
  • Ensured a AA WCAG compliance
  • Sprea the tokening structure into components

Component Build

Systematically rebuilt 200+ components using atomic design principles
  • Rebuilt components for dynamic content and flexibiity
  • Two Slack channels: For announcements and async collaboration
  • Weekly updates: Shared progress, upcoming work, and adoption metrics

Documentation

Created clear guidance for proper component usage
  • Documentation for component usage and triggers
  • Incuded the who component user xpeerience

Design System release

After 3 months of work we promised to have a org wide onboarding session for the new system. Although every designer count attend we reached 25% adoption after the first training session, and grew to 75% within 3 weeks.

Impact

The new ZS Design Library transformed how the design and engineering teams work:

Key Learnings

Leading this migration reinforced several important principles:

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