Dell Technologies
Figma Standardization
Design Playbook
Building a shared system that saved designers time and made design files navigable for everyone
Adopted by 18+ teams
Dell Game Changer Award
My role
Product Designer
Scope
Design operations · Figma standardization · Cross-org adoption
Adopted by
21 teams · 106 weekly inserts
Recognition
Dell Game Changer Award
Overview
At Dell, designers work across multiple teams and products. PMs often work with several designers at once, jumping between design files constantly. The problem was that every designer organized things differently. Labeling, structure, naming, how prototypes were presented — all of it depended on who made the file.
That meant PMs couldn't build a consistent mental model of where anything was. Engineers needed designers to walk them through files during handoff. Even other designers struggled to navigate each other's work. Finding designs, understanding what stage they were at, and figuring out how a prototype worked took more time than it should.
Design work was slowing teams down instead of enabling them.
I built the Figma Design Playbook to fix that — a shared system that standardized how design files are structured, so designers spend less time thinking about organization and more time doing actual design work.
Problem
The core issue wasn't that designers were doing bad work. It was that everyone had their own system — which meant there was no system at all at the org level.
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File organization varied by designer and team
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Naming conventions were inconsistent
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There was no standard way to show design status, ownership, or stage
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Engineers and PMs couldn't navigate files without help from a designer
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New team members faced steep onboarding friction — every file they opened worked differently
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Cross-team collaboration was slow because shared context didn't exist
👉 At scale across multiple products and teams, this created real productivity loss. Every hour spent hunting for a file or explaining a design structure was an hour not spent on design.
Evidence
This wasn't a hunch. It came from working across multiple teams and watching the same problems repeat:
Teams frequently asked for help locating files or understanding how they were organized
Engineers relied on designers during handoff for orientation, not just design decisions
Designers duplicated work because they couldn't tell what already existed
PMs working across multiple designers had no consistent way to track design status or progress
We also talked to Dell Digital — a separate design org under the same umbrella — during the research phase. They had their own internal guide, but it was minimal. Comparing what they had with what we needed helped us identify which components were universally necessary versus team-specific.
My role
Identified the problem through direct observation across multiple teams
Led the design of the playbook system — components, structure, naming, documentation
Introduced the slide panel dev note format, originally developed during the APEX project, as a standard component
Presented the playbook at major design forums across Dell ISG EDG — including both the Primary Storage and Dell Digital orgs
Collaborated with a designer (Shuqi Yan) and a content writer (Maggie Harney) to build and document the system
What I built
The goal was to reduce cognitive load — not add to it. Designers shouldn't have to think about how to organize a file. The system makes that decision for them.
Every component in the playbook came from looking at what designers were already doing and finding the common patterns. We didn't invent new behaviors — we standardized the best existing ones and made them reusable.
File Thumbnail
Standard thumbnails with feature name, project info, and designer details. Scannable at a glance from the Figma file browser — no need to open a file to understand what it contains.
Page Structure
A consistent file structure helped everyone find what they needed, fast.
Example
Example
Status Section Bars
This is used to clearly mark the progress of each design section, helping teams focus on finalized work during reviews.
Example
Adoption
We presented the playbook at several major design forums within Dell ISG EDG — the org that covers both Primary Storage (my team) and Dell Digital.
Dell Digital had their own internal guide, but it wasn't extensive. After our presentation and early conversations with one of their leaders, they adopted the playbook largely as-is. Some teams customized it for their specific needs, but the core structure stayed intact.
My manager pushed adoption within Primary Storage. From there, word spread — including to teams we weren't directly working with. The playbook is now used by 21 teams with 106 weekly component inserts, and continues to be referenced and used actively.
Recognition
Karen Farrell, Manager of the Content Writing team, awarded the team a Dell Game Changer Award. Her words:
"The Figma Playbook has significantly increased efficiency and improved consistency in design and experience across APEX. The effort invested by this team in creating this playbook has ensured Eng & Product teams know how to find the designs and content they need, while also understanding how to collaborate with UX teams effectively in Figma. In addition, teams can now guide themselves through a Figma file to understand the status of a project. The Figma Playbook not only provides general usage guidelines, it also provides templates and reusable elements that drive a more unified, consistent experience for our customers."
👉 The award came from the content writing team — not design — which reflects the cross-functional impact the playbook had.
Impact
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Adopted by 21 teams across two major Dell design orgs — including Dell Digital, a separate org that adopted it independently
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106 weekly component inserts — actively used, not just referenced once and forgotten
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Standardized workflows across multiple teams, making design files easier to navigate for designers, product managers, and engineers.
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Reduced onboarding friction for new designers — every file works the same way
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Reduced designer dependency during handoff — engineers and PMs can navigate files without needing a walkthrough
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Freed up designer time by removing the cognitive load of deciding how to organize files
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Recognized with a Dell Game Changer Award for cross-functional impact on design efficiency
Key Insights
Standardization only works when it reduces friction — not when it enforces control.
The playbook succeeded because it was built from what designers were already doing, not imposed from outside. We observed, found the common patterns, and made them easy to reuse. Nobody had to change how they thought about design — they just had to stop reinventing the same organizational decisions every time they opened a new file.
The result was more time for actual design work. That's the point.