Building Intel's Design Foundation

Achieving 95% Adoption Across 16 Global Teams

Building Intel's Design Foundation

Achieving 95% Adoption Across 16 Global Teams

Building Intel's Design Foundation

Achieving 95% Adoption Across 16 Global Teams

Key Achievements

95% Adoption Across 16 Global Teams

Created comprehensive component library serving 300M+ annual visitors, achieving enterprise-wide adoption within 18 months.

50% Faster Design-to-Delivery

Reduced timeline from 3 weeks to 1.5 weeks average through systematic component reuse and design-development parity.

40% Reduction in Design-QA Rounds

8-point grid system eliminated implementation guesswork, cutting revision cycles and accelerating production timelines.

Key Achievements

95% Adoption Across 16 Global Teams

Created comprehensive component library serving 300M+ annual visitors, achieving enterprise-wide adoption within 18 months.

50% Faster Design-to-Delivery

Reduced timeline from 3 weeks to 1.5 weeks average through systematic component reuse and design-development parity.

40% Reduction in Design-QA Rounds

8-point grid system eliminated implementation guesswork, cutting revision cycles and accelerating production timelines.

Key Achievements

95% Adoption Across 16 Global Teams

Created comprehensive component library serving 300M+ annual visitors, achieving enterprise-wide adoption within 18 months.

50% Faster Design-to-Delivery

Reduced timeline from 3 weeks to 1.5 weeks average through systematic component reuse and design-development parity.

40% Reduction in Design-QA Rounds

8-point grid system eliminated implementation guesswork, cutting revision cycles and accelerating production timelines.

Context

Intel.com served 300M+ visitors annually across 50+ product teams. The user experience was fragmented. Twelve different button styles existed across the site. No single source of truth. Three-week timelines from design approval to production. Accessibility compliance varied by team. Each product team had independently created their own component variations over the years.

Role & Scope

Role: Senior Product Designer, Design Systems Lead for Digital Experiences at Intel

Platform: Figma component library, Adobe Experience Manager integration

Collaboration: 16 global product teams, front-end engineering, accessibility specialists

I architected Intel's Atomic Design System from the ground up. This included 100+ reusable components, typography and spacing standards, accessibility-first design and a governance model. This became the foundation for every Intel project in my portfolio.

Design Constraints

Visual and functional inconsistency at scale: Numerous product teams had independently created their own component variations. Desktop CPU support used different buttons than server documentation. The GPU team had custom alert boxes. Every team thought their approach was the right way.

Slow, inefficient handoffs: Design-to-development averaged 3 weeks. Simple component updates required changes across hundreds of pages. Engineering teams were rebuilding the same components over and over.

No accessibility standards: WCAG compliance varied by team. Some products had keyboard navigation, others didn't. High-contrast modes were inconsistent. Screen reader support was an afterthought.

Resistance to standardization: Product teams had spent years customizing their components. Convincing them to give up control and adopt a shared system meant proving the system worked better than what they'd built.

My Approach

Atomic Methodology with Enterprise Constraints

Started with foundational atoms: typography, color, spacing and icons. Then built molecules like buttons and form fields. Then organisms like navigation, cards and modals. Prioritized components used across the most teams first to maximize early impact.

8-Point Grid System for Mathematical Consistency

Chose constraint over flexibility. Every spacing value had to be a multiple of 8. Initially controversial, but resulted in 40% fewer design-QA rounds because developers could implement without guessing.

Accessibility Baked into Every Component

Built WCAG 2.1 AA compliance from day one, not as an afterthought. Every component included keyboard navigation, screen reader labels and high-contrast variants. Made it impossible to build inaccessible experiences.

Pilot Program Before Full Rollout

Launched with 3 high-visibility teams first. Proved the system worked, gathered feedback and refined based on real usage. Then rolled out to remaining 13 teams with proof of success.

Foundation

The foundation of the Atomic Design System is built on breaking down interfaces into fundamental components such as atoms, molecules and organisms that can be reused and combined systematically. This modular approach ensures consistency, scalability and efficiency across design and development teams.

Detailed Results

95% adoption across 16 global teams within 18 months.

50% acceleration in design-to-delivery timeline (from 3 weeks to 1.5 weeks average).

40% reduction in design-QA rounds through 8-point grid consistency.

85% component reuse rate across teams (vs. near-zero before).

100% WCAG 2.1 AA compliance across all components with keyboard navigation support.

Reduced engineering duplication, teams stopped rebuilding the same components.

Became the foundation for all case studies in this portfolio (Ask Intel AI Assistant, Enterprise Search, Global Navigation, Contact Experience, Knowledge Articles).

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Key Takeaways for the Future

Constraints multiply creativity, not limit it. Teams initially resisted the 8-point grid system, calling it too rigid. Six months later, those same teams praised it for eliminating decision fatigue and speeding up their work. Opinionated systems work when the opinions are right.

Adoption is a product problem, not a documentation problem. Early on, we focused on perfect documentation. What actually drove adoption was proving the system was faster than custom work, making it easier to use than building from scratch and celebrating teams that adopted it successfully.

Start with believers, convert skeptics through proof. I didn't try to convince all 16 teams at once. Launched with 3 teams who were already frustrated with inconsistency, proved it worked, then used their success stories to convince others.

Engineering partnership from day one prevents rework. Involved front-end engineers in token definition and component architecture from the start. What felt slower upfront saved months of "this doesn't work in production" conversations later.

Design systems are never done. The system launched, achieved 95% adoption and immediately needed iteration. New product needs, accessibility updates, performance improvements. It's infrastructure that requires ongoing investment, not a project with an end date.

When systems break, teams slow down.

I work across UX, architecture and content to prevent fragmentation and help organizations move faster with confidence.

Share Your Design Challenge

Atomic Design System

100+ production-ready components

Built comprehensive library spanning atoms (typography, color, spacing, icons) to organisms (navigation, hero sections, card layouts). All documented in Figma with usage guidelines.

FoundationThe foundation of the Atomic Design System is built on breaking down interfaces into fundamental components such as atoms, molecules and organisms that can be reused and combined systematically. This modular approach ensures consistency, scalability and efficiency across design and development teams.

Foundation

Key Takeaways for the Future

Constraints multiply creativity, not limit it. Teams initially resisted the 8-point grid system, calling it too rigid. Six months later, those same teams praised it for eliminating decision fatigue and speeding up their work. Opinionated systems work when the opinions are right.

Adoption is a product problem, not a documentation problem. Early on, we focused on perfect documentation. What actually drove adoption was proving the system was faster than custom work, making it easier to use than building from scratch and celebrating teams that adopted it successfully.

Start with believers, convert skeptics through proof. I didn't try to convince all 16 teams at once. Launched with 3 teams who were already frustrated with inconsistency, proved it worked, then used their success stories to convince others.

Engineering partnership from day one prevents rework. Involved front-end engineers in token definition and component architecture from the start. What felt slower upfront saved months of "this doesn't work in production" conversations later.

Design systems are never done. The system launched, achieved 95% adoption and immediately needed iteration. New product needs, accessibility updates, performance improvements. It's infrastructure that requires ongoing investment, not a project with an end date.

My Approach

Atomic Methodology with Enterprise Constraints

8-Point Grid System for Mathematical Consistency

Accessibility Baked into Every Component

Pilot Program Before Full Rollout

Launched with 3 high-visibility teams first. Proved the system worked, gathered feedback and refined based on real usage. Then rolled out to remaining 13 teams with proof of success.

Key Takeaways for the Future

Constraints multiply creativity, not limit it. Teams initially resisted the 8-point grid system, calling it too rigid. Six months later, those same teams praised it for eliminating decision fatigue and speeding up their work. Opinionated systems work when the opinions are right.

Adoption is a product problem, not a documentation problem. Early on, we focused on perfect documentation. What actually drove adoption was proving the system was faster than custom work, making it easier to use than building from scratch and celebrating teams that adopted it successfully.

Start with believers, convert skeptics through proof. I didn't try to convince all 16 teams at once. Launched with 3 teams who were already frustrated with inconsistency, proved it worked, then used their success stories to convince others.

Engineering partnership from day one prevents rework. Involved front-end engineers in token definition and component architecture from the start. What felt slower upfront saved months of "this doesn't work in production" conversations later.

Design systems are never done. The system launched, achieved 95% adoption and immediately needed iteration. New product needs, accessibility updates, performance improvements. It's infrastructure that requires ongoing investment, not a project with an end date.

My Approach

Atomic Methodology with Enterprise Constraints

8-Point Grid System for Mathematical Consistency

Accessibility Baked into Every Component

Pilot Program Before Full Rollout

Launched with 3 high-visibility teams first. Proved the system worked, gathered feedback and refined based on real usage. Then rolled out to remaining 13 teams with proof of success.

Atomic Design System

100+ production-ready components

Built comprehensive library spanning atoms (typography, color, spacing, icons) to organisms (navigation, hero sections, card layouts). All documented in Figma with usage guidelines.

Key Takeaways for the Future

Constraints multiply creativity, not limit it. Teams initially resisted the 8-point grid system, calling it too rigid. Six months later, those same teams praised it for eliminating decision fatigue and speeding up their work. Opinionated systems work when the opinions are right.

Adoption is a product problem, not a documentation problem. Early on, we focused on perfect documentation. What actually drove adoption was proving the system was faster than custom work, making it easier to use than building from scratch and celebrating teams that adopted it successfully.

Start with believers, convert skeptics through proof. I didn't try to convince all 16 teams at once. Launched with 3 teams who were already frustrated with inconsistency, proved it worked, then used their success stories to convince others.

Engineering partnership from day one prevents rework. Involved front-end engineers in token definition and component architecture from the start. What felt slower upfront saved months of "this doesn't work in production" conversations later.

Design systems are never done. The system launched, achieved 95% adoption and immediately needed iteration. New product needs, accessibility updates, performance improvements. It's infrastructure that requires ongoing investment, not a project with an end date.