Design System
Brainly Multidimensional
Design System ”Pencil”.
From zero to a full-blown
world-class product, recognized by the industry.
Role: Creator and first design IC, lead for design system team and IxD Product Design Domain, team manager for the diverse team of designers and engineers.
Public link to the Pencil: design.brainly.com 🔗
01.Situation
Developers struggled to align the product with designers mock-ups, causing frustration and confusion among teams and stakeholders. No easy way to access design resources for our partners.
02.Task
I proactively pioneered design system as an individual contributor, with limited resources in the early stages of design systems. I’ve build it from scratch to world-class level leading a top-tier team.
03.Actions
2017. Workshops with all designers and developers to identify pain-points.
Analysis of the problems.
2019. Set up Interaction/Product Design domain at Brainly, with a focus on product design quality and community building among distributed teams.
2018. Co-created the tool that translated HTML code from Style Guide to Sketch Libraries (HTML-Sketchaap). Later on, a similar tool but for Figma (Dreams).
2021. Expanded core Design System Team to structure with managers, leads, product / brand / marketing / motion / ux motion designers, and engineers.
2018. Led the creation of Brainly Design Principles. Later on documented in Design System. Read the principles 🔗
2022. Created the holistic vision and strategy for product design with product / brand / motion / ux motion design leads to guide user experience by example in effective usage of design principles and guidelines. Read Case Study 🔗
2017. Built a strategy for design system prioritizing shared language and connection between Product & Brand & Marketing.
04.Results
Taking design at Brainly and collaboration between designers and engineers to the next level. Increased design quality, efficiency, and impact across the company.
Used by almost everybody with overwhelmingly positive feedback in DS users research.
Successfully Integrated Product, Brand, and Marketing to establish a cohesive omni-channel experience through design language and enhanced collaboration.
The public version of Pencil has become an industry benchmark and a valuable employer branding tool, attracting top talent to the company.
Helped many teams in the world, and landed on the bridging of design and development timeline, alongside Airbnb, Webflow, Seek, and Google.
~$2M
Saved in internal cost.
Based on annual design system
ROI estimates.
05.Bonus
Watch my Figma Schema Talk showcasing the details of Multidimensional Design System creation at Brainly.
Best Talk of The Year Winner at Design System Awards 2023 🏆
Testimonials
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"What was important in my position as an Engineering Director, I saw Patrycja's support and great impact on smooth cooperation between designers and frontend engineers. She was the one who introduced the idea of building a design system at Brainly, and tirelessly led it to fruition. If you ask anyone from her team, they will tell you that Patrycja was a source of innovation and constant inspiration for them. She has the ability to motivate teams to achieve their best, while being focused on delivering goals."
— Irena Walania
VP, Engineering, Brainly -
"I've worked with Patrycja for years building and implementing brand strategies. She's always inspired me with the top notch quality of her work and her mature sense of ownership and commitment to her goals. She has led successful teams that delivered state-of-art design systems and brand elements. In her work, Patrycja focuses on the end user, supporting her strategic decisions with thorough research and empathy in design, aiming at truly getting into the user's shoes and always looking to make them gasp in a sense of wonder when they discover products she's working on."
— Kuba Piwnik
Brand & Communications, EliseAI -
"Patrycja possesses an exceptional grasp of design systems, beautifully informed by branding and marketing insights. Under her guidance, our projects always exceeded expectations. She ensured that not only did we deliver the essential aspects of an MVP, but also crafted a MLP (minimum lovable product) that captured hearts. I wholeheartedly recommend Patrycja to any company looking to cultivate a thriving design culture and elevate their products to new heights. She is a true design leader who brings out the best in her team and leaves a tangible impact. Working with her has been an invaluable experience that I will cherish forever."
— Aday Hernández
Senior Product Designer, Welltech -
"Patrycja is an outstanding problem solver. Her expertise and guidance have been instrumental in overcoming numerous challenges. Her domain experience and ability to provide the right direction for the entire design system are invaluable. Overall, Patrycja's greatest ability as a manager is her talent for motivating the entire team to work on amazing projects. Her contribution to the innovation and progress we have made in the design system cannot be overstated."
— Rafal Helak
Senior Product Designer at Future Mind -
"As the Design System Lead, Patrycja has demonstrated her expertise time and again, creating a high-performing team and leading us to deliver impeccable work where attention to detail is paramount. Her skills as a design system expert are unrivalled. She consistently shares her knowledge, fostering a culture of continuous learning that raises the bar for all of us. Coupled with her excellent communication skills, she encourages an open dialogue that contributes to the efficiency and success of our team."
— Michał Skowronek
Principal Software Engineer, Splunk -
"To this day, I cannot comprehend how one person can manage a design team, build a design system and introduce innovations that are in line with the company's strategy and mission in such a holistic way. She is very insightful, creative, passionate and simply VERY good at what she does. She doesn't rest on her laurels, she always tries to provide, together with her team, solutions that go beyond expectations, ensuring the comfort of all involved people."
— Kay Kłos
Associate Creative Director, EF Education First