Naming Conventions for Omni Design System
2024
How I developed the naming convention system for Commercial and Medical Design Systems to bring them under one roof.
// problem statement
At Commercial and Medical Org, different teams developed their design systems independently, leading to confusion and inefficiency due to inconsistent terminology, naming conventions, and unclear distinctions within Commercial and Medical Portfolios. Without unified naming conventions, teams struggled to effectively communicate, collaborate, and clearly identify whether specific design assets and guidelines belonged to one portfolio or another.
// objectives
- Consolidate multiple design systems into one unified platform.
- Implement clear, consistent, and intuitive naming conventions.
- Clearly differentiate Commercial and Medical Portfolios within a single cohesive design system.
// research
The research phase included 1-to-1 interviews, surveys, and competitor analysis.
This is how I looked when I tried to understand how we should approach it to make it clear for new users and not confuse existing ones.
// research — what about the others
I conducted stakeholder interviews and surveys to understand our internal challenges and gather insights into how other leading companies structured and named their Design Systems.
A significant complexity was that we didn't have just one system — we had multiple existing design systems. Our goal was to establish a common, cohesive naming convention that would unify these systems while still preserving their unique characteristics and history.
// what about us
In the Commercial & Medical Organization, we managed several distinct Design Systems:
- Omni — The newest and most advanced Design System tailored specifically for microsite development (led by me as the Design System Lead).
- GSKpro — Targeted at healthcare professionals.
- Medical — Designed for medical-focused websites.
- Data — Optimized for PowerBI dashboards and administrative panels.
- Email — Created to streamline modular email campaigns.
Additionally, there was potential to integrate other emerging systems as needed.
// introducing omni.one
Omni.One — Omnichannel Design System for Commercial & Medical Org.
So Omni DS became Omni.Web.
For the other design systems, I decided to add "Omni" at the beginning of each name to clearly indicate that all systems under the Omni umbrella follow consistent guidelines and patterns related to the Commercial & Medical Organization.
By retaining the original product names alongside "Omni," we ensure that internal users and external agencies can easily adapt without confusion over the new naming conventions.
After presenting it to the team we decided to only keep Omni as the general name without "One".
// outcomes
