DESIGN SYSTEMS · FORTUNE 50 TELECOM
From 7 Inconsistent Screens to One Scalable Retail Design System
Role: Lead Designer → Associate Director
Team: 9 designers (US + India)
Scope: 15+ teams, 5-10 products
Challenges
7
Screens with inconsistent designs
15+
Teams with no shared system
2
Continents, duplicating work
A Fortune 50 telecom company had a retail design problem that nobody had been able to solve. The enterprise design system existed, but retail was a fundamentally different environment: different screen resolutions, different usage behaviors, touch-based kiosks in busy stores. The fragmentation was visible everywhere — same buttons built differently by different teams, same navigation patterns with different implementations. Some stakeholders believed the fragmentation was too deep to unify. I needed to prove them wrong — but not by arguing. By showing.
Key Decisions
The Deck of Cards
WHAT I BUILT
A modular system where "cards" are containers for content. Representatives choose which card to use depending on the conversation. Everything powered by a scalable retail design system that adapts to kiosk sizes and screen orientations.
The enterprise system couldn't simply scale down to retail. Instead of forcing adaptation, I created a theme layer — purpose-built for retail, drawing from the enterprise system. React components with retail themes. Micro front-ends for team independence.
Earning the Right to Scale
WHY THIS APPROACH
Started with the easiest screens — low risk, high visibility. Aligned system work with the product roadmap. Built priority features WITH the system, not separately.
Reorganizing Across Continents
WHAT I CHANGED
Reorganized into domain pods — sales, unity, service. Each pod had a US lead and India lead. Work assigned by priority, not geography. Weekly lead syncs.
BEFORE
US designed, India executed. Duplication, miscommunication, no ownership.
AFTER
Shared ownership, integrated workflows, India team as co-creators, not executors.
The Experimental Sandbox
WHY IT WORKED
A structured process for validating design solutions before they become part of the official system. Not just prototyping — a cross-team coordination process involving business partners, product, research, and development.
Bill optimization was our first sandbox project. We deployed it as a micro-flow, observed it in actual stores, and used those signals to determine what earned the right to scale.
Rejected both top-down mandates (teams resist) and pure grassroots (too slow). Orchestrated adoption: internal team first, then PMs, then senior leadership. By the time I presented up, everyone already knew.
Outcomes
Promoted to AD
On the strength of this work
VP Design Award
Company-wide recognition
Voluntary Adoption
Small Biz team adopted without being asked
PM Method Shift
Adopted modular delivery approach
“I am very impressed with your work, Jeff.”
— Senior Director of Retail Innovation
“Design systems fail when they're treated as infrastructure projects. They succeed when they're treated as adoption problems.”
