A shared definition, an audit of 82 patterns, and a paved road for what comes next. The branch that later evolved into Front Door.
IDS served 12+ teams who used our system offerings like components, foundations, and Gen AI tools. But without patterns, every team still needed to reinvent the wheel. Designers couldn't distinguish patterns from building blocks. Forty percent misused the term "Widget." No one had an official definition for "Workflow." The cost: redundant work, inconsistent experiences, rogue solutions.
Synthesized from internal teams (QBDS, MCDS, CGDS, CORE) and benchmarked against six leading systems. Polaris, Carbon, Atlassian, Workbench, Primer, and Spectrum.
As part of the Better Together framework, IDS needed a single design and development artifact for patterns and foundations that could be used across Intuit products.
Creating a shared definition of a pattern. Identifying common patterns IDS could own. Delivering a paved road for documentation. Defining how patterns work with dynamic AI layout systems.
Including an illustration system. Building new patterns. The work was definitional, audit driven, and architectural. Not net new pattern authoring.
Documented patterns count across leading design systems, used to right size our own ambition.
I audited every system across MCDS, QBDS, CGDS, and IDS. Mapped each pattern by Necessity by Product Specificity. The prize was low product specificity, high necessity, current and future patterns IDS could own.
Teams want patterns that account for dynamic, AI driven layouts. Not just static templates.
Defining and documenting takes time. Contributing is a pain. Teams go rogue to ship faster.
Same patterns exist in multiple systems. Centralizing them at IDS removes redundant work.
Takes a lot of time to figure out some of these patterns and to make sure it works for different teams and use cases can be daunting.
Product Designer · QBDSThey can take longer to define and document.
Design Strategist · QBDSTeams go rogue to build what they need because contributing is a pain.
Product Designer · CGDSAcross QBDS, MCDS, CGDS, IDS, and CORE.
Low specificity, high necessity, current and future.
Internal customer base of the design system.
External validation across industry leaders.
Designers, developers, and content strategists now share the same vocabulary for what a pattern is and isn't.
19 prioritized patterns with clear criteria. Low specificity, high necessity, current and future demand mapped.
The definitional work didn't die. It became the architecture for how IDS structures content for both human and LLM consumption inside the firewall.