Scaling Design Systems at Vattenfall
Improving the scalability, documentation, and adoption of Vattenfall’s enterprise design system through UX research, component design, documentation strategy, usability testing, and cross-functional collaboration.
Project Scope
Enterprise Design System Optimization
Role
Product Designer · UX Research
Project Duration
Feb 2026 – June 2026 (Graduation Internship — ongoing)
Website
The Challenge
Vattenfall’s design system was partially implemented across multiple tools, with fragmented documentation, inconsistent usage, and low adoption across teams.
Designers and developers often relied on informal communication instead of a centralized source of truth, creating friction in daily workflows and inconsistencies across products.
The goal of the project was to improve the scalability, clarity, and usability of the design system while supporting better collaboration between teams.
Discovery
To structure the project, I used the Design Thinking framework combined with Continuous Discovery and the Opportunity Solution Tree (OST). This helped connect research insights, business goals, and validated solutions throughout the project lifecycle.
The OST acted as a living visualization tool for the team, continuously evolving as new insights emerged from interviews, usability testing, stakeholder feedback, and ongoing design system improvements.
The project focused on three main areas:
increasing design system coverage
improving adoption across teams
exploring automation and AI-supported workflows
Frameworks Used
Design Thinking · Opportunity Solution Tree · Continuous Discovery
Understanding the Current System
System audit · Documentation review · Gap analysis
I explored the existing design system ecosystem across Figma, Storybook, and Frontify to understand how teams currently access components and documentation.
The research revealed fragmented information, inconsistent workflows, and a strong dependency on informal knowledge sharing through Teams and internal discussions.
Competitive Analysis
I benchmarked several mature design systems to understand how enterprise platforms structure documentation, navigation, and component guidance.
The analysis highlighted the importance of visual-first documentation, real product examples, clear navigation and separating design and development guidance
These insights directly influenced the documentation structure later implemented in Supernova.
eBay · Uber · Rise UI Kit
Assumption Mapping
Before conducting interviews, I organized initial findings and uncertainties through assumption mapping.
This helped identify which assumptions were already validated through research and which areas required deeper investigation with designers and developers.
The assumption maps also helped frame interview questions and prioritize the most important opportunities within the design system ecosystem.
Research preparation
User Research
To better understand workflow challenges, I conducted interviews with designers and developers from different product teams.
The sessions included workflow walkthroughs, card sorting exercises, component prioritization, and live usability testing of the documentation platform.
One of the strongest findings was that designers and developers consume documentation very differently. Designers preferred visual guidance and real UI examples, while developers focused more on implementation clarity and technical references.
Another recurring insight was that most teams relied more on asking colleagues than using existing documentation because information was incomplete or difficult to navigate.
Interviews · Card Sorting · Usability Testing
Define
Research Synthesis
Personas · Core problem definition
After synthesizing the interview findings, I identified several recurring issues affecting both usability and adoption of the design system.
The research revealed challenges around fragmented documentation, inconsistent component usage, unclear governance, and dependency on informal knowledge sharing across teams.
To better represent the different workflows and expectations of designers and developers, I created research-based personas grounded directly in interview insights.
These personas helped guide later decisions around documentation structure, usability, and prioritization.
Prioritization & Decision Making
ICE scoring · Opportunity prioritization
To prioritize the most impactful improvements, I collaborated with my team in an ICE scoring session, evaluating opportunities based on impact, confidence, and ease of implementation.
This helped focus the project on high-value improvements while keeping decisions grounded in validated research insights.
The outcomes were continuously updated within the Opportunity Solution Tree as the project evolved.
Design Opportunity
How might we make the design system faster and easier to use, so designers and developers can ship consistent products without asking for help?
Ideate
Defining Solution Directions
How Might We
Based on the research findings and prioritized opportunities, I translated key user and business challenges into actionable solution directions through a central “How Might We” question.
This helped align research insights with practical improvements focused on scalability, usability, and long-term design system growth.
Documentation Strategy
Visual-first structure · Information architecture
Based on the research insights, I developed a documentation strategy focused on reducing friction and improving clarity for both designers and developers.
One of the main decisions was separating documentation into dedicated Design and Code perspectives, reflecting the different workflows and mental models identified during research.
The documentation structure prioritized:
real UI examples
concise guidance
scalable page layouts
reduced cognitive load
New Platform Decision
Supernova
As part of the project, I explored different documentation platforms together with the design system team to evaluate scalability, maintainability, and long-term usability.
After comparing multiple solutions, Supernova was selected as the most suitable platform due to its flexible structure, integration possibilities, and support for future system growth.
The decision was made collaboratively with stakeholders while considering organizational needs and technical constraints.
Prototype & Testing
Expanding the Design System
Component creation · Documentation · System improvements
Based on research insights and team feedback, I contributed to expanding and improving the design system ecosystem across both Figma and Supernova.
Alongside documenting existing components, I also designed new components and interaction patterns requested by product teams when gaps in the system were identified during real workflows.
For example, recurring navigation issues revealed the need for a dedicated back button component, while another feature request highlighted missing international phone input patterns within the library.
These improvements helped strengthen design system coverage while making the system more practical and reusable for teams working on real product features.
At the same time, I structured component documentation inside Supernova, focusing on scalable page layouts, accessibility guidance, usage rules, and clearer design-to-development communication.
To improve efficiency and reduce repetitive manual work, I also explored AI-supported workflows using Claude Cowork and custom prompts and skills during the documentation process.
This helped speed up documentation creation, structure repetitive content more consistently, and support scalable workflows across the growing design system.
Documentation automation · Scalable processes
AI-Supported Workflows
Iterative Validation
Throughout the project, I continuously validated the platform through usability testing and feedback sessions with designers, developers, and stakeholders.
The testing revealed several usability issues, including overly text-heavy pages, navigation inconsistencies, and unclear component statuses.
These insights helped refine the structure, improve navigation clarity, and simplify the overall documentation experience.
Usability testing · Feedback sessions
Collaboration Across Teams
Working closely with designers, developers, product owners, and my mentor gave me valuable insight into how design systems operate within large organizations.
The project highlighted the importance of collaboration, shared terminology, and continuous validation when designing systems intended to support multiple teams and products at scale.
Design systems · Shared workflows
Outcome
The project contributed to improving design system coverage, documentation clarity, and collaboration across teams through research-driven decisions, new component creation, and scalable documentation workflows.
Research findings directly influenced documentation structure, component guidance, and platform improvements inside Supernova, helping create a more centralized and consistent experience for both designers and developers.
The final phase of the internship focuses on validating adoption and usability improvements through follow-up usability testing and team feedback sessions.
Reflection
This internship gave me valuable experience working on a large-scale enterprise design system where research, collaboration, and continuous iteration played a central role in decision-making.
Throughout the project, I strengthened my skills in UX research, documentation strategy, component thinking, and stakeholder collaboration, while also exploring AI-supported workflows to improve scalability and efficiency within the design process.
The experience also showed me the importance of balancing structure, usability, and flexibility when designing systems intended to support both design and development teams at scale.