Universal Destinations & Experiences operates large-scale consumer platforms across multiple brands, regions, and digital touchpoints. As product complexity increases and teams scale in parallel, the design system plays a critical role in enabling consistency, quality, and creative flexibility across experiences.

My work focuses on strengthening the foundational layers of the global design system—supporting teams as they navigate scale, personalization, and delivery constraints while maintaining a shared design language.

Due to confidentiality and active development, specific product details and visuals are intentionally abstracted. This case study emphasizes system-level thinking, decision-making, and impact.

The Challenge

As system adoption expanded, teams approached the design system with varying levels of maturity. While foundational elements existed, ambiguity in how the system should be applied and extended led to inconsistent usage and friction in delivery.

Key challenges included:

• Teams interpreting system guidance differently

• The need to support brand expression without fragmenting the system

• Scaling adoption without introducing centralized bottlenecks

• Aligning system intent with real-world product constraints

The core problem was not visual inconsistency, but how teams understood and worked with the system at scale.

My Role

I work as a UX/UI Architect supporting the evolution of Universal’s global design system. Rather than owning a single product surface, my role centers on enabling teams through strong foundations, clear guidance, and collaborative workflows.

My contributions include:

• Strengthening foundational system patterns

• Supporting workflows and usage guidance for system consumers

• Partnering with design, engineering, and product teams to align intent and execution

• Reducing ambiguity around system usage and extension

System Approach

Foundations First

I prioritize reinforcing foundational patterns that can support long-term scale across brands and platforms. This ensures new capabilities are built on stable, reusable structures.

Adoption as a Design Problem

System adoption is treated as a usability challenge. Efforts focus on reducing friction in how teams discover, understand, and apply the system in day-to-day work.

Flexibility with Guardrails

I help shape approaches that allow teams to meet brand and product needs while maintaining a shared design language and structural consistency.

Execution Highlights (Abstracted)

• Contributed to foundational system patterns used across multiple teams

• Supported improvements to design system workflows and guidance

• Collaborated cross-functionally to align system usage with delivery realities

• Helped teams navigate extension patterns without breaking core foundations

Impact

While specific metrics are confidential, this work has contributed to:

• Increased clarity and confidence in system usage

• Improved alignment across teams and platforms

• Stronger system readiness to support future scale and personalization

Key Takeaway

At enterprise scale, design systems succeed when they create shared understanding—enabling teams to move quickly without losing cohesion.