Driving Product Convergence: How Lean UX & Design System Strategy Delivered a 9-Month Launch

Product Redesign Case Study

A visual diagram showing a three-step design process with labeled phases: '01 - Current Design,' '02 - Wireframe,' and '03 - Final Design.' Each phase displays a different style of webpage layout, progressing from detailed images to simplified wireframes and then to polished final visuals.

Consolidating redundant platforms doesn't require endless design cycles-just systemic thinking. By combining Design System architecture, rapid 1-on-1 user feedback, and AI-powered prototyping, I led the UX transformation that brought two divergent products into one production-ready platform in 9 months.

Core Objective

Consolidate two separate applications used by different internal teams into a single, cohesive platform by adapting an existing codebase to fulfil both user groups' workflows.

Designer & Timeline

Martin Tauš, Product / UX Designer (Embedded Design System Specialist)

9 months from initial alignment to production release

Model

Focused, high-efficiency part-time support prioritizing high impact per hour.

Discovery & User Research

Problem Alignment

Facilitated alignment sessions to understand the business and operational requirements of both team instances.

Qualitative Interviews

Conducted targeted 1-on-1 discovery sessions with active users (to protect core functionality) and prospective non-users (to map friction points and adoption barriers).

Iterative Wireframing

Used low-fidelity wireframes directly within interview sessions to test conceptual models, gather real-time feedback, and iterate rapidly without wasting design cycles.

Series of four digital wireframes for a user interface design, labeled Discovery, Browse, Detail, and Content, with various sections and placeholder content.

Design & AI-Powered Prototyping

High-Fidelity UI

Elevated validated wireframes into refined, accessible UI mockups aligned with modern design standards.

AI-Accelerated Prototyping

Utilized Figma AI workflows to rapidly generate an interactive prototype, drastically shortening the time from wireframe validation to functional prototype testing.

Usability Verification

Conducted validation tests with key stakeholders and end-users using the interactive prototype, securing buy-in prior to engineering handoff.

Screenshots of a web interface showing demo pages for a service called 'Demo As A Service,' including a card catalog of products, a demo detail page for food and beverage packaging, and a list catalog of demos with filters and product details.

Handoff & Design System Evangelism

Systemic Integration

Spearheaded the integration of our shared Design System into the new unified app, demonstrating to stakeholders how tokenized components decrease development effort and maintain consistency.

Developer Specs

Delivered developer-ready UI specifications, complete with interaction states, edge-case documentation, and reusable component references.

Implementation & Agile Support

Sprint Support

Maintained active touchpoints with the development team throughout the build phase.

Real-time QA & Refinement

Resolved implementation blockers, clarified behavior edge-cases, and provided ongoing spec updates to keep development velocity high.

Outcomes & Lessons Learned

On-Time Release

Successfully consolidated two application streams into one unified platform and launched to production in 9 months.

Design System Adoption

Increased systemic adoption across teams, setting a clear framework for future product scale.

Lean Impact

Proven template for how a Design System specialist can drive end-to-end product impact on a part-time model through rapid prototyping and strong dev collaboration.