Innovare Design Library
Innovare is the reusable design library specific for the Cisco Innovations Lab team to use. Its purpose is to establish a recognizable style and brand
consistency within this team.
BACKGROUND.
The main challenge at hand was to build the design library from scratch and maintain consistency within all of the elements I design. I was eager to design elements that were not only Cisco-branded, but offered a refreshing and unique feel that was specific to the Cisco Innovations Lab. Innovare, in Latin, means "to modernize, to reform". My goal was to create a design language to do exactly so.
THE CHALLENGE.
NEXT STEPS.
Research
Interviews
Design
Submit
RESEARCH.
There are several teams within Cisco and each had their own design library. Before jumping into creating my own unique designs, I needed to ensure that my creativity would align with the rest of Cisco's and ensure the most important aspect of this library– brand consistency. With that, I studied the different design libraries and took note of features I found in common and those that were different. This gave me a feel for the type of stylistic components that Cisco uses and its overarching theme that it illustrates.
INTERVIEWS.
After having a feel for the type of language I would want to create, the next step was to conduct interviews on members of the team and ensure that our creative wants and needs were aligned. (NOTE: NDA regulations restrict me from revealing any more information.)
Based off the interviews, I had decided to go for a minimalistic, modernized style for the library. Specifically, a neumorphic style seemed to align best with the wants from members of the team. The team seemed to enjoy a simple, sleek look, with subtle accents and shadows that would give a unique feel to the style.
DESIGN.
With that, I began designing the design library website and components on Figma. I used Cisco's brand kit to give me an idea of the type of elements that were the highest priority within the company. (Slideshow of designs are below)
PUBLISH.
After finishing the designs, I created a Cisco-public Figma document that contained all of the designed elements. All of the components were neatly organized and easy to navigate for the rest of the team.
