disney
disney

2021

Disney

Helping Disney create consistent, high-quality experiences across 15+ brands with a unified design system.

Case Study

Summary

I played a key role in building and governing Disney’s Prism design system — a single universal framework that unified visual and interaction design across ABC News, ESPN, Disney, National Geographic, Star Wars, and many other brands. The system delivered 95% design consistency, saved an estimated $3M in rebrand costs, and reduced cross-brand design time by 60%.

Man Walking

Problem

Disney’s many brands and products were operating with completely separate design languages and component sets. This caused inconsistent user experiences, duplicated work for designers and developers, and made it difficult to launch new features quickly. The company needed a single shared system that could scale across all brands while still allowing each to feel unique.

Role & Team

As Senior Product Designer on the X-Brand Design System Team, I contributed to the core development of Prism and led design efforts for ABC News, ABC Local News, and GMA. I worked closely with vertical design teams for each brand, engineering partners, and product managers. My responsibilities included creating components, documenting patterns, stress-testing solutions, and helping establish governance to enable the system to grow sustainably.

Man Riding EV
Woman Running

Approach

We started by auditing existing brand systems and interviewing stakeholders to identify common patterns and pain points. I helped build a shared component library in Figma with auto-layout and variants, created templates for other teams, and documented guidance on accessibility, layout, and editorial standards. We collaborated closely with each brand’s vertical design team to develop and test solutions before integrating them into Prism, then reviewed everything with the broader DTCI Design team and engineering partners.

Prisim

Challenges

Balancing a single universal framework while preserving each brand’s unique identity

  • Getting alignment across many creative teams who were used to working independently


  • Supporting both marketing-heavy consumer experiences and content-heavy news platforms within the same system


  • Moving quickly during high-pressure periods like the 2020 election coverage

Solution

I helped create a flexible, modular system with reusable components, design tokens, and clear usage guidelines. This allowed teams to adapt Prism to their brand voice without breaking consistency. For ABC News, I designed real-time data components and gesture-based mobile interactions that were later adopted system-wide, making the entire Disney digital experience feel cohesive yet distinct for each brand.

Woman Night View

Next Steps

If I could continue the project, I would expand Prism with more advanced data visualization components and explore AI-assisted pattern suggestions while keeping strong human oversight. I’d also run more structured user testing across multiple brands to keep refining the system as Disney’s products evolve.

The biggest lesson was that a strong design system doesn’t restrict creativity; it removes friction so teams can focus on what makes each brand special. That’s exactly what Prism accomplished for Disney.

More Work

FAQ

Sep 2025 - Feb 2026

Sr. UX Designer (contract) - Google

Oct 2022 - Jun 2025

Design Director (staff) - WongDoody

Oct 2021 - Sep 2022

Lead Product Designer (staff) - Havas Health Network

Mar 2021 - Sep 2021

Experience Design Lead (contract)- VML

Nov 2019 - Feb 2021

Sr. Product Designer (contract) - The Walt Disney Company

Jun 2017 - Oct 2019

Sr. Experience Designer (freelance) - Havas

Jun 2016 - May 2017

Design Lead (freelance) - Publicis Sapient

Feb 2016 - Jun 2016

Sr. UI Designer (freelance) - Edelman

disney
disney

2021

Disney

Helping Disney create consistent, high-quality experiences across 15+ brands with a unified design system.

Case Study

Summary

I played a key role in building and governing Disney’s Prism design system — a single universal framework that unified visual and interaction design across ABC News, ESPN, Disney, National Geographic, Star Wars, and many other brands. The system delivered 95% design consistency, saved an estimated $3M in rebrand costs, and reduced cross-brand design time by 60%.

Man Walking

Problem

Disney’s many brands and products were operating with completely separate design languages and component sets. This caused inconsistent user experiences, duplicated work for designers and developers, and made it difficult to launch new features quickly. The company needed a single shared system that could scale across all brands while still allowing each to feel unique.

Role & Team

As Senior Product Designer on the X-Brand Design System Team, I contributed to the core development of Prism and led design efforts for ABC News, ABC Local News, and GMA. I worked closely with vertical design teams for each brand, engineering partners, and product managers. My responsibilities included creating components, documenting patterns, stress-testing solutions, and helping establish governance to enable the system to grow sustainably.

Man Riding EV
Woman Running

Approach

We started by auditing existing brand systems and interviewing stakeholders to identify common patterns and pain points. I helped build a shared component library in Figma with auto-layout and variants, created templates for other teams, and documented guidance on accessibility, layout, and editorial standards. We collaborated closely with each brand’s vertical design team to develop and test solutions before integrating them into Prism, then reviewed everything with the broader DTCI Design team and engineering partners.

Prisim

Challenges

Balancing a single universal framework while preserving each brand’s unique identity

  • Getting alignment across many creative teams who were used to working independently


  • Supporting both marketing-heavy consumer experiences and content-heavy news platforms within the same system


  • Moving quickly during high-pressure periods like the 2020 election coverage

Solution

I helped create a flexible, modular system with reusable components, design tokens, and clear usage guidelines. This allowed teams to adapt Prism to their brand voice without breaking consistency. For ABC News, I designed real-time data components and gesture-based mobile interactions that were later adopted system-wide, making the entire Disney digital experience feel cohesive yet distinct for each brand.

Woman Night View

Next Steps

If I could continue the project, I would expand Prism with more advanced data visualization components and explore AI-assisted pattern suggestions while keeping strong human oversight. I’d also run more structured user testing across multiple brands to keep refining the system as Disney’s products evolve.

The biggest lesson was that a strong design system doesn’t restrict creativity; it removes friction so teams can focus on what makes each brand special. That’s exactly what Prism accomplished for Disney.

More Work

FAQ

Sep 2025 - Feb 2026

Sr. UX Designer (contract) - Google

Oct 2022 - Jun 2025

Design Director (staff) - WongDoody

Oct 2021 - Sep 2022

Lead Product Designer (staff) - Havas Health Network

Mar 2021 - Sep 2021

Experience Design Lead (contract)- VML

Nov 2019 - Feb 2021

Sr. Product Designer (contract) - The Walt Disney Company

Jun 2017 - Oct 2019

Sr. Experience Designer (freelance) - Havas

Jun 2016 - May 2017

Design Lead (freelance) - Publicis Sapient

Feb 2016 - Jun 2016

Sr. UI Designer (freelance) - Edelman

disney
disney

2021

Disney

Helping Disney create consistent, high-quality experiences across 15+ brands with a unified design system.

Case Study

Summary

I played a key role in building and governing Disney’s Prism design system — a single universal framework that unified visual and interaction design across ABC News, ESPN, Disney, National Geographic, Star Wars, and many other brands. The system delivered 95% design consistency, saved an estimated $3M in rebrand costs, and reduced cross-brand design time by 60%.

Man Walking

Problem

Disney’s many brands and products were operating with completely separate design languages and component sets. This caused inconsistent user experiences, duplicated work for designers and developers, and made it difficult to launch new features quickly. The company needed a single shared system that could scale across all brands while still allowing each to feel unique.

Role & Team

As Senior Product Designer on the X-Brand Design System Team, I contributed to the core development of Prism and led design efforts for ABC News, ABC Local News, and GMA. I worked closely with vertical design teams for each brand, engineering partners, and product managers. My responsibilities included creating components, documenting patterns, stress-testing solutions, and helping establish governance to enable the system to grow sustainably.

Man Riding EV
Woman Running

Approach

We started by auditing existing brand systems and interviewing stakeholders to identify common patterns and pain points. I helped build a shared component library in Figma with auto-layout and variants, created templates for other teams, and documented guidance on accessibility, layout, and editorial standards. We collaborated closely with each brand’s vertical design team to develop and test solutions before integrating them into Prism, then reviewed everything with the broader DTCI Design team and engineering partners.

Prisim

Challenges

Balancing a single universal framework while preserving each brand’s unique identity

  • Getting alignment across many creative teams who were used to working independently


  • Supporting both marketing-heavy consumer experiences and content-heavy news platforms within the same system


  • Moving quickly during high-pressure periods like the 2020 election coverage

Solution

I helped create a flexible, modular system with reusable components, design tokens, and clear usage guidelines. This allowed teams to adapt Prism to their brand voice without breaking consistency. For ABC News, I designed real-time data components and gesture-based mobile interactions that were later adopted system-wide, making the entire Disney digital experience feel cohesive yet distinct for each brand.

Woman Night View

Next Steps

If I could continue the project, I would expand Prism with more advanced data visualization components and explore AI-assisted pattern suggestions while keeping strong human oversight. I’d also run more structured user testing across multiple brands to keep refining the system as Disney’s products evolve.

The biggest lesson was that a strong design system doesn’t restrict creativity; it removes friction so teams can focus on what makes each brand special. That’s exactly what Prism accomplished for Disney.

More Work

FAQ

Sr. UX Designer (contract) - Google

Design Director (staff) - WongDoody

Lead Product Designer (staff) - Havas Health Network

Experience Design Lead (contract)- VML

Sr. Product Designer (contract) - The Walt Disney Company

Sr. Experience Designer (freelance) - Havas

Design Lead (freelance) - Publicis Sapient

Sr. UI Designer (freelance) - Edelman

Create a free website with Framer, the website builder loved by startups, designers and agencies.