A scalable open-source, multi-brand design system to connect global teams within Mitsubishi Chemical Group.
CLIENT
Mitsubishi Chemical
ROLE
Lead Designer
CREDITS
ORCKID (Agency)
PROJECT DURATION
3 months to MVP
Ongoing Iterations
When Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporate set out to harmonise their brands across global teams, the goal was to knit together a consistent look and feel for hundreds of products and brands, many of which produce diverse solutions through three business domains: Performance Products, Industrial Materials and Health Care.
It was no small task for my team with almost two dozen business units and nearly 70,000 employees around the world. I lead a 4-person design system team, building the design system from scratch and scaling the library of components and patterns which depended on maintaining openness and transparency, with an emphasis on extensive documentation.
​
The challenge was ensuring components in the Design System can be easily understood by any designer or developer around the world.
Key Responsibilities
Insight, Strategy & Vision
The digital design identity system was deeply rooted in brand strategy. Together with my team, we established a roadmap to build on the Mitsubishi Chemical Group identity with a universal system that enhances the company's collaborative spirit and provides a better experience for customers.
Coordination & Scope Definition
I coordinated and planned which components and elements were required for the design system, while defining the solution scope.
Design Execution & Validation
Collaboratively with my creative team, we produced draft components and wireframes, iterating the designs as we worked our way towards created high-fidelity prototypes—continuously testing with users to validate our design hypothesises.
Leadership
I led the system vision; forming a healthy feedback loop, robust contribution models, active support channels, and regular communication between stakeholders and team members which contributed towards the success of the overall system.
A global design system
We created an open-source design system that gives design teams and developers the frameworks they need to create engaging product experiences across the global Mitsubishi Chemical Group.
We analysed group websites with a thorough UX audit, which included the following:
-
Analysis of behavioural patterns of the target audience
-
Content and Heuristic evaluation of group websites
-
Inventory of components
-
Wireframes showing how usability issues can be fixed
-
Quality Domain Analytics audit
-
A hypothesis to be checked during usability testing
​
The evaluation revealed many usability problems across the customer journey, including lack of brand consistency and bottlenecks. Due to the fractured nature of the group, each team division was using different designs, and methods. The design system ensures a holistic approach to aligning Mitsubishi Chemical Group.
Final Design: MCGC Design System
The Results
The MCGC design system will continue to evolve and scale. Through this case study, I wanted to share with you the process I took with my team and a bit of what we learned along the way.
