Brett Davis

Resume

Projects

Brett Davis

Resume

Projects

Brett Davis

Resume

Projects

Brett Davis

From Fragmentation to Foundation: Indeed's Design System Transformation

From Fragmentation to Foundation: Indeed's Design System Transformation

Timeframe:

Timeframe:

2021-2025

2021-2025

My Role:

My Role:

UX Director

UX Director

Key Impact metric:

Key Impact metric:

+$4.2M annual savings

+$4.2M annual savings

CONTEXT

In 2021, Indeed's product ecosystem was fragmented across 2,000+ repositories with inconsistent experiences serving 250M+ global users. Teams were duplicating work, brand expression was inconsistent, and engineering velocity was hampered by technical debt.

In 2021, Indeed's product ecosystem was fragmented across 2,000+ repositories with inconsistent experiences serving 250M+ global users. Teams were duplicating work, brand expression was inconsistent, and engineering velocity was hampered by technical debt.

In 2021, Indeed's product ecosystem was fragmented across 2,000+ repositories with inconsistent experiences serving 250M+ global users. Teams were duplicating work, brand expression was inconsistent, and engineering velocity was hampered by technical debt.

NORTH STAR VISION

"A unified design system that enables teams to ship quality experiences 10x faster while maintaining Indeed's trusted brand across every touchpoint."

NORTH STAR PILLARS

Adoption First
Build system components teams actually need, not what we think they need

Quality as Default
Make the right thing the easy thing through excellent DX

Measurable Impact
Track metrics that matter to business outcomes

Scale Through People
Grow capability across org, not just within DS team

SHIPPED OUTCOMES

Adoption Metrics

  • 94% design system adoption across 2,000+ repositories

  • Grew from 12% to 94% adoption in 18 months through strategic rollout

  • 100% of new projects started with system components

Efficiency Gains

  • 6.8x UX efficiency improvement - design-to-deployment time from 3-4 weeks to 3-5 days

  • 2.8x engineering velocity - Component implementation time reduced by 65%

  • $4.2M annual savings in avoided duplicate work and reduced work cycles

Quality Improvements

  • WCAG 2.1 AA compliance achieved across all components

  • 40% reduction in cross-browser/device bugs

  • 87% designer satisfaction score (vs 34% before the project started)

PROCESS

Phase 1: Foundation (Months 1-6)

  • Audited existing patterns across all products to identify commonalities

  • Built pilot component library with top 15 most-used patterns

  • Established design tokens for color, typography, spacing, elevation

  • Created proof-of-concept with 3 high-visibility product teams

Phase 2: Scale (Months 7-18)

  • Rolled out system to 500+ product teams through quarterly waves

  • Built comprehensive documentation hub

  • Established office house, Slack channels, and embedded support model

  • Created automated migration tools for legacy component

Phase 3: Maturity (Months 19-48)

  • Expanded system to cover 200+ components and 50+ patterns

  • Integrated accessibility testing into CI/CD pipeline

  • Built component analytics to track usage and identify gaps

  • Established contribution model

BUSINESS IMPACT

  • Enabled 3 major product launches to ship 40% faster than historical average

  • Reduced design QA cycles from 2 weeks to 2 days

  • Decreased customer-reported UI inconsistency issues by 78%

  • Supported Indeed's rebrand rollout across all touch points in 6 months

LEADERSHIP APPROACH

  • Led cross-functional team of 25+ consisting of UX designers, UX engineers, content designers, and researchers

  • Presented monthly business reviews reporting on design system impact to executive leadership

  • Championed system adoption through storytelling with data

  • Built coalition across product, ux, engineering, brand, and accessibility teams


KEY OBJECTIVES COMPLETED

Defined a distinctive brand color palette
Transformed and matured Indeed’s color palette to reflect its growth into the world’s number one job search engine.


Implemented semantic design tokens
Using a property-first approach, we rolled out semantic tokens to provide a contextual layer bridging the gap between design and engineering. This resulted in a shared, self-documenting vocabulary, reducing miscommunication and speeding up handoffs. It also was critical for features like dark mode, accessibility, and supporting multiple themes by remapping semantic tokens to different core values.



Deployed branded typography
Scaled a custom typeface that enhanced readability and complimented the brand’s human, trustworthy voice. Indeed Sans, a variable font supporting 136 languages, was designed for flexibility and legibility. With five weights and two styles, it promised better performance and a cohesive brand experience.


Designed a characteristic illustration style
Crafted a cohesive style and library of scalable illustrations bringing a consistent layer of life and tactility to the user experience.


Developed meticulous motion guidelines
Defined foundational motion principles to ensure animations and interactions are functional and add value to the user journey.


Curated a bespoke icon system
Introduced a cohesive set of icons that are contextually orienting, scalable, and add clarity to user interface designs.


CONTRIBUTIONS

Cross-department coordination
Collaborated with product, user experience, and engineering teams to ideate, workshop, and finalize design solutions. My coordination efforts were key in designing and defining distinctive brand expressions.


Implementation & validation
Led the deployment of monthly minor versions and annual major versions of the design system across product UIs, coordinating extensive user testing to validate the design decisions, and providing brand design support for uplifting deprecated patterns and UI.


Team growth and development
By establishing clear career milestones and providing ongoing coaching, I cultivated a high-performing, motivated team that was instrumental in driving the project’s success.

Cross-department coordination
Collaborated with product, user experience, and engineering teams to ideate, workshop, and finalize design solutions. My coordination efforts were key in designing and defining distinctive brand expressions.


Implementation & validation
Led the deployment of monthly minor versions and annual major versions of the design system across product UIs, coordinating extensive user testing to validate the design decisions, and providing brand design support for uplifting deprecated patterns and UI.


Team growth and development
By establishing clear career milestones and providing ongoing coaching, I cultivated a high-performing, motivated team that was instrumental in driving the project’s success.

Cross-department coordination
Collaborated with product, user experience, and engineering teams to ideate, workshop, and finalize design solutions. My coordination efforts were key in designing and defining distinctive brand expressions.


Implementation & validation
Led the deployment of monthly minor versions and annual major versions of the design system across product UIs, coordinating extensive user testing to validate the design decisions, and providing brand design support for uplifting deprecated patterns and UI.


Team growth and development
By establishing clear career milestones and providing ongoing coaching, I cultivated a high-performing, motivated team that was instrumental in driving the project’s success.

CONCLUSION

By 2025, Indeed’s R&D teams were fully utilizing the design system, which had become the definitive source of truth for UI and brand design, accelerating product development and reducing time-to-market.

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