Introduction
DHL needed a scalable digital tool to streamline how illustrations and visual components were used across its global digital ecosystem. The challenge was to design an internal tool that not only aligned with DHL’s robust design system but also introduced flexibility and delight enabling teams to build consistent yet engaging visual assets.
In this project I lead the post discovery design efforts and feature development under the supervision of a senior UX designer, along with stake holder management, design presentations and developer handoffs.
role
Product Designer
Team
Sr. UX Designer
Head of Development
Graphic Designer
Developer
timeline
16 weeks
The Impact Created
Enabling 1000+ non-designer employees of DHL to create brand-consistent illustrations, supporting systematic creative excellence across DHL’s worldwide operations.
The Bridge to our impact
The starting point
Rather than following traditional user research-driven product, this project required a more hands on approach to bridge DHL’s business goals with the needs of the users for this tool.
Challenge
I Entered the executional phase post project discovery with no access original research or analysis repots.
Approach
Conducted informal conversations with project stakeholders who had attended the discovery workshops.
Insights
The tool was part of DHL’s new advanced brand management strategy. Aiming towards reduction in time and money in design processes
Re-group
Facilitated alignment meetings with PMs and fellow designers to understand the ecosystem in which the product will live.
Research
Acknowledging the shared foundations with DHL Layout Creator. My aim was to map its user flows and interaction patterns and extract the reusable patterns while recognizing where the two tools would need to diverge.
I invested time understanding the ecosystem the tool would live in immersing myself in the DHL’s robust design system. Followed by a desk research conducted to systematically unpack the user experience of Layout Creator.
Challenge
I Entered the executional phase post project discovery with no access original research or analysis repots.
Approach
Conducted informal conversations with project stakeholders who had attended the discovery workshops.
Insights
The systematic nature of DHL's illustration framework presented an opportunity: instead of requiring users to design from scratch. The creation flow had to be an iterative one.
Brainstorming on this with the engineers and the head of development we arrived to the solution that the tool could generate pre-composed variations through intelligent permutations,
Users don't build illustration. They configure them through strategic parameters that generate brand consistent permutations and combinations
UI Design - Creation Phase
Interaction Logic - Creation Phase
Due to the systematic format, the logic was to provide users with permutation and combinations of an illustrated scene
Composition Variation (Shuffle)
The system generates multiple composition variations for each scene, allowing users to shuffle through different visual arrangements of the same content.
Scene Complexity Slider
Users adjust how busy or simple their illustration looks using a slider. Lower settings give a clean scene with just
a few objects, while higher settings add more detail
Object Visibility
Users who need more control, this parameter allows toggling individual objects on or off to customize scene content without breaking the composition structure.
Locked
Locked objects are a designed constraint that limits the user form omiting the core objects of a comp.
Visible
Toggle between visible and hidden to manipulate the presence of the object on the canvas.
hidden
Toggle between visible and hidden to manipulate the presence of the object on the canvas.
Object Modification
Extends editing capabilities further by enabling
fine-tuning of specific object attributes
Prototyping & Testing
I tested the UI with internal staff members who were non designers to find proof.
Test Insights
80% task success rate when using the illustration creator.
50% Users were able to complete the creation flow in less than 10 minutes.
The outcome
Illustration Creation made Simple, Smart, and Stress-Free saving DHL 💰 and global rollout with adoption in 100+ countries
The final designs excited stakeholders at DHL Group, and it was globally launched as an internal tool adoption in 100+ countries