Carissa The.
Carissa The.

Project:

Watson Experience Guide

A unified system expressed globally. Using the overarching IBM design language as a basis to build from, the Watson Brand Experience Guide was created to house brand guidelines, inspirations, and assets across product interfaces, data visualization, motion graphics, photography, illustration, and print. It empowers more than 2,000 global designers, marketers, and agencies to create consistent work that strengthens the brand. The system provides structure but has the flexibility to scale at the speed of AI.

Studio:

Client:

Creative Director:

AKQA 

IBM

Tim Shelley

Associate Director:

Designer:

Caroline Hilman

Carissa The.

Context

IBM has 2000+ designers globally who are required to uphold its brand system. To avoid usage of outdated assets and elements, the experience guide is presented as a solution, as it provides updates on the present and is an accessible resource.

Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.

Reflections

This was a project that taught me the importance of systematic thinking and a cohesive design language system governance. The impact of unclear documentation and guidelines is detrimental to a product's experience and identity.  

The importance of a broader brand system — With 2000+ users globally, an accessible broader brand system that has all the key information and contacts is crucial to the overall brand maintance. I continously worked with the internal IBM team regarding content placement and distribution.

Communicating with devs while designing is essential — During sprints and maintance, I made sure to constantly work with the dev team to gauge on technical feasibility, timelines, and capabilities. I find that it was best to streamline the process the best I could very early on so everyone can focus on each of our tasks with the least friction. 

Articulating the process — As a designer, I have to be able to very clearly explain my decisions and the reasoning behind the process; since if I could not articulate it, I cannot expect my team to be able to understand it. This was especially true whenever I became the only designer available during parts of this project.

Outcome — The success of this tool has resulted in the creation of similar Brand Experience Guides for IBM Brand Center, IBM Cloud, IBM Developer and IBM Red Hat Synergy.

Project:

Watson Experience Guide

A unified system expressed globally. Using the overarching IBM design language as a basis to build from, the Watson Brand Experience Guide was created to house brand guidelines, inspirations, and assets across product interfaces, data visualization, motion graphics, photography, illustration, and print. It empowers more than 2,000 global designers, marketers, and agencies to create consistent work that strengthens the brand. The system provides structure but has the flexibility to scale at the speed of AI.

Studio:

Client:

Creative Director:

AKQA 

IBM

Tim Shelley

Associate Director:

Designer:

Caroline Hilman

Carissa The.

Context

IBM has 2000+ designers globally who are required to uphold its brand system. To avoid usage of outdated assets and elements, the experience guide is presented as a solution, as it provides updates on the present and is an accessible resource.

Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.
Carissa The.

Reflections

This was a project that taught me the importance of systematic thinking and a cohesive design language system governance. The impact of unclear documentation and guidelines is detrimental to a product's experience and identity.  

The importance of a broader brand system — With 2000+ users globally, an accessible broader brand system that has all the key information and contacts is crucial to the overall brand maintance. I continously worked with the internal IBM team regarding content placement and distribution.

Communicating with devs while designing is essential — During sprints and maintance, I made sure to constantly work with the dev team to gauge on technical feasibility, timelines, and capabilities. I find that it was best to streamline the process the best I could very early on so everyone can focus on each of our tasks with the least friction. 

Articulating the process — As a designer, I have to be able to very clearly explain my decisions and the reasoning behind the process; since if I could not articulate it, I cannot expect my team to be able to understand it. This was especially true whenever I became the only designer available during parts of this project.

Outcome — The success of this tool has resulted in the creation of similar Brand Experience Guides for IBM Brand Center, IBM Cloud, IBM Developer and IBM Red Hat Synergy.