Design Manager — Design System, Visual Expressions & Brand

Project: Leading Design System, Product/User Expressions, and Brand Investments

My Role

Design Manager leading team focused on design systems, visual expression, and brand investments across multi-surface product ecosystem.

Opportunity

Led team scaling design systems and visual expression across Outlook’s complex, multi-surface ecosystem.

Primary Objective: Establish robust design system for new Outlook Windows and Web experience—replacing legacy Win32 client while enabling product coherence, agility, and scalability.

Strategic Scope: Drive visual unification across Mac, iOS, and Android as part of One Outlook vision. Evolve product’s visual expression through theming, illustration, and personalization investments.

Leadership Focus: Balance design systems thinking with brand expression and user delight while fostering high-performing team culture.

Process

1. Design Systems at Scale: Guided Fluent migration including component audits, token updates, and accessibility compliance. Created flexible Figma toolkit enabling cross-platform consistency and faster designer workflows. Streamlined engineering handoffs.

2. Visual Expression & Theming: Directed personalization storytelling through theming and illustration. Established theming frameworks for wallpaper integration, contrast accessibility, and palette guidance. Elevated product aesthetic toward expressive, inclusive design language.

3. Team Leadership: Mentored junior-to-mid designers with growth plans resulting in multiple promotions. Defined operating rhythms, crit structures, and goal alignment. Nurtured culture grounded in craft, curiosity, and care.

Results

System Adoption: Design system and toolkits adopted org-wide, dramatically improving consistency and reducing design-developer friction. Increased speed to spec and implementation across workflows.

Product Quality: Theming and expression work modernized Outlook’s visual language, contributing to increased engagement, improved sentiment, and stronger Fluent alignment.

Team Growth: Mentorship resulted in multiple designer promotions and stronger creative confidence. Team recognized for design quality and operational maturity.

Cross-org Influence: System design and team practices informed adjacent M365 teams, setting patterns that scaled beyond Outlook.

Cultural Impact: Shaped not just product outcomes but organizational culture—building tools, processes, and people that enable sustained design excellence.