Governance and roadmap for Albe, Zanichelli's design system
Challenge
Zanichelli was scaling its digital products division with 5 supplier teams working in parallel, without a shared component system and governance rules.
Deliverables
- Design System (Albe)
- Research evidence and insights
- Usability tests
- Prototypes
- Information architecture
- User stories and user flow
- Wireframes
Approach
I redefined the governance model and versioning strategy for Albe, the company's design system. I managed the roadmap and coordinated the cross-functional team of designers and developers distributed across multiple agencies.
How we got there
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People-focused research
Through narrative interviews, usability tests and contextual inquiry I identified patterns and significant evidence to redesign Zanichelli's digital services for teachers and students.
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Agile method
I approached the system redesign with short iterative cycles: test, identify criticalities, prioritise, redesign, retest. This ensured flexibility and strong stakeholder engagement throughout.
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Design System
I drafted guidelines to facilitate the growth, maintenance and creation of new products while maintaining visual, structural and navigation pattern consistency across Albe.
Outcome
5 supplier teams able to collaborate in parallel without conflicts, on a €300K/year project. System still in use and maintained.