DSM project documentation

“I would appreciate more flexibility. It would be great to have more templates to choose from. Even page layouts seem like they need more flexibility.”
Head of Digital Advice & Servicing at TIAA
Brand 2.0 stakeholder interviews
Interviews were conducted with 17 senior TIAA stakeholders during September and October of 2018.Moderator’s guide focused on:
  • What brand elements work well?
  • What brand elements do not?
  • If you could change one thing...
  • Painpoints
  • Other admired brands.
Style guide focus group
A style guide focus group was conducted on July 31, 2019 with various employees across TIAA (marketing partners, business analysts, senior developers, and UX designers). The discussion was grounded on sharing ideas of evolving the existing style guide as well as any issues people encountered using it.
recorded focus group
Requirements
The following requirements were based off user input collected during our digital style guide focus groups and executive stakeholder interviews.
  • Increase efficiency and productivity by showcasing all of TIAA assets in one core location.
  • Decrease the amount of time it takes to find assets with an intuitive labeling system, comprehensive category structure and search.
  • Improve user satisfaction with unified guidelines on behavior, content, design, accessibility and front-end code at the individual component level.
  • Increase visibility and productivity for outside agencies, freelances and consultants who require access to the style guide outside our firewall. [www.tiaa-brand.org]
  • Reinforce the sustainability and traction of particular patterns by tracking analytics and data.
  • Increase customer engagement, performance optimization and simplicity within the digital space by promoting our new brand experience principles and mobile first best practices.
  • Decrease time and resources with a WordPress or similar application software used to manage content.
Audience
Audiences of the digital style guide and component library range from a wide array of disciplines:
  • Digital design team (aka UX team)
  • Development team (front-end and back-end)
  • Fatwire team (content management)
  • Marketing partners (various teams – 14 teams)
  • Brand team
  • Creative services
  • Select vendors
Card sorting
Card sorting was one technique used to collectively discuss naming conventions and groupings for (Bootstrap) components. The DSM initiative was designed to be accessed by a wide array of individuals throughout the company - some of which are not familiar with technical or design terminology. It was essential to devise an intuitive labeling system and comprehensive structure for all users.
Content for the DSM must conform to 3 simple principles!
Clear
Accurate As simple as possible
Writing for the DSM!
The following guidelines were put in place to reinforce content continuity and brand alignment across our digital platforms.
  • Use sentence case
  • Verbs are in the present tense
  • Use the active voice
  • Use bulleted or numbered lists wherever possible (Sentence-style entries in lists should be punctuated at the end)
  • No run-on sentences
  • Avoid design jargon words when possible
  • Do not use bold or italics to emphasize words in running content
  • Bold can be used for section headers and anatomy labels
  • Use the oxford comma
Design toolkit
A sketch symbol library was organized atomically & synced to Invision boards to replace the need for redline specs.
  • Scalable
  • Flexible
  • Manageable
Let's connect
Get in touch for opportunities or just to say hello!