How I established the research, processes, roadmaps, and shared design foundations needed to evolve a seven-product-line SaaS portfolio.
The starting point
When I joined Modern Campus, the product design function consisted of one junior designer who had transitioned from Sales and was working under a VP. There wasn't an established design practice or shared framework for working across the product portfolio.
Rather than immediately redesigning individual products, I started by understanding the ecosystem we already had.
01 — Establishing a baseline
I audited the existing products to understand what had already been built and establish a baseline across the portfolio.
The audit helped surface existing patterns, inconsistencies, opportunities for reuse, and areas where products had evolved independently.
02 — Creating structure for design
Before creating consistency across the products, we needed consistency in how designers worked.
I introduced structure within Figma so files and pages were organized more predictably, established shared documentation and working conventions, and began creating the foundation of a global design system.
03 — Figuring out where to begin
With a large portfolio, we couldn't redesign everything at once.
We gathered feedback from users and internal stakeholders and created roadmaps for each product. Combined with what we'd learned through the initial audit, those roadmaps gave us a way to triage the portfolio and prioritize where design could have the greatest impact.
flowchart LR
A["Product audit"] --> D["Design roadmap"]
B["User feedback"] --> D
C["Stakeholder input"] --> D
D --> E["Now"]
D --> F["Next"]
D --> G["Later"]
04 — Building a shared foundation
As we began addressing roadmap priorities across products, we needed a shared design foundation rather than solving the same interaction and UI problems repeatedly.
The global design system grew out of those needs and created reusable patterns designers and developers could apply across the portfolio.
Today, that system is being used to support the modernization of applications across the ecosystem.
05 — Scaling the system
The goal wasn't to personally redesign every product. It was to establish enough structure that good design decisions could scale.
flowchart LR
A["Shared standards"] --> B["Documentation"]
B --> C["Designers"]
C --> D["Engineering"]
D --> E["Products"]
E --> F["More consistent ecosystem"]
This allowed design to operate across a much larger portfolio while maintaining consistency and giving individual products room to solve their specific problems.
Where I go deep
My role still includes hands-on product design. I work most deeply within Connected Curriculum, where I help define product architecture and personally design complex workflows and foundational experiences.
Next case study: Designing the Foundation for a New Product Ecosystem — Core