Work
Nokia Design System
Designed a scalable design system and tools for 70k+ users—internal community portal, mapping patterns, and reward system
DISCLAIMER: The Nokia Design System is internal and not released publicly so the content shown below is limited.
Overview
TYPE OF WORK
Design Systems, Patterns, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Product Design
TIMELINE
May 2023 — April 2024 (1 year)
TEAM
1x Lead UX Designer (me)
1x UX Design Lead
1x UX Designer
3x Developers
1x Product Manager
1x Development Manager
2x Learning Experience Designers
There were 7x Contract UX Designers who were also on my team but we all worked on separate projects.
LOCATION
Ottawa, Canada 🇨🇦
Espoo, Finland 🇫🇮
Paris-Saclay, France 🇫🇷
Bangalore, India 🇮🇳
TOOLS
Figma / FigJam
Supernova
Microsoft Teams
Google Forms
Mural
KEY WORDS
Design Systems, Patterns, Data Visualization, Contribution Model, Design System Governance, DesignOps, Incentive Design
Background
Overview
My time working on the Nokia Design System
During my internship at Nokia, I contributed to the internal launch of the revamped Nokia Design System (NDS). The design system was quite mature and most of the base components were already built. A lot of my work was related to maturing the design system into more than a Figma UI kit such as creating patterns and a contribution model for the design system.
As the Nokia Design System is not released publicly yet, only a brief preview is shown below.
DID YOU KNOW?
Nokia is no longer a cellphone company.
Nokia is no longer a cellphone manufacturer. In 2013, the company announced the sale of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft, which was completed in 2014. Following the sale, Nokia repositioned its value around telecommunications infrastructure and services, further strengthening its portfolio through acquisitions such as Alcatel-Lucent.
Context
The Nokia Design System is a design system catered toward telecommunications software, offering libraries for charts, topologies, and mapping. Widely adopted across Nokia, it supports various product teams to strive for a consistent design language across their network solutions. The Nokia Design System is currently available for internal users within Nokia.
Video credits: Pauline Anvari
Video credits: Pauline Anvari
Project Highlights
Overview of Projects
What did I work on?
Within my 1-year internship, I worked on 5 major projects. Some highlights are shown below:
Community Portal
Designed website, contribution model, ancillary tools, and rewards for the internal NDS community portal.
2 New Patterns
Created unified visual vocabulary for designing network topologies and geographical UI.
Rewards System
Built a rewards system to incentivize users to contribute design/development ideas to the NDS.
Project #1
Internal Community Portal:
Experimentation, Contribution, Adoption
SUMMARY: Designed a contribution model and feedback ecosystem to increase engagement with the Nokia Design System, combining research, gamification, and developer tooling to drive adoption and streamline feedback loops.
After launching the internal design system portal, our team needed a structured way to gather feedback and encourage contributions from product teams. I designed a companion experience to clarify the contribution model and make participation more accessible.
This involved conducting competitive research on how mature design systems manage feedback loops, running user interviews to understand workflow needs, and facilitating usability testing post-launch to refine the experience.
To drive engagement, I collaborated with cross-functionally with learning experience designers and developers to introduce a recognition model within an existing internal platform and led a workshop to design new badge concepts.
I also helped establish a sandbox environment that enabled developers to experiment with the design system more independently and efficiently.
Project #2
Mapping & Topology Patterns:
Unifying Visual Vocabulary for DataViz
SUMMARY: Led a research-driven initiative to standardize topology and geospatial mapping interfaces across multiple product teams, creating scalable design patterns to improve consistency and system cohesion.
As a telecommunications software company, Nokia products frequently incorporate geospatial mapping and network topology interfaces. However, implementation patterns varied across teams, leading to inconsistencies in user experience and branding.
I led a two-month qualitative research initiative, partnering with designers, developers, and product managers to evaluate how topology and mapping interfaces were used across 7 product teams. This work resulted in the creation of standardized design patterns to unify these experiences across multiple teams.
Additionally, I led exploratory research into 3D topology interfaces and patterns to assess and propose future opportunities for expanding the design system’s component capabilities.
Project #3
Rewards System:
Incentivizing Contributions to Build a Living Design System
SUMMARY: Created an internal recognition program that encouraged designers and developers to contribute to the design system, integrating badges and rewards to drive adoption and consistent usage.
As part of improving the design system’s community hub and strengthening its feedback loop with internal users, we identified a key challenge: What would motivate designers and developers to actively contribute?
To better understand this, we conducted scenario-based usability testing on a newly launched community hub and followed up with qualitative interviews to explore what would encourage participation. Insights revealed that contributors were motivated by factors such as career empowerment and peer recognition.
Based on these findings, we designed a structured recognition program aligned with those motivations. I collaborated cross-functionally with learning experience designers and engineering to create a tiered badge system that automatically recognized contributions through existing workflows. These digital badges were designed to be shareable within professional and internal recognition channels, reinforcing visibility and achievement.
We also introduced a public contributor spotlight within the community portal to celebrate top participants. I facilitated participatory workshops to co-create the badge designs and ensure alignment across stakeholders.
Project #4
Core Component Library:
Quality, Documentation, and New Components
SUMMARY: Maintained and expanded the core component library by addressing bugs, updating design documentation, and designing new components, ensuring consistency and reliability across the design system.
When I joined, most components were built, so my first task was migrating component documentation to the new Nokia Design System (NDS) website. I also created code examples for seven components before the site's internal launch in June 2023, designed various components in Figma, and presented my work in monthly UX design sharing sessions.
Impact & Reflection
REsults
Impact
👥
Community Portal
Created an internal community hub for 70,000+ Nokia Design System users — designed the contribution model, rewards system, internal sandbox tool, and website.
🗺️
New Mapping Patterns
Delivered 2 new design patterns that standardized a unified visual vocabulary for mapping and topology UI used across 7+ Nokia product teams.
🧩
Component Library
Helped migrate documentation of 10+ components from Figma to Supernova, designed components in Figma, and created code samples for 7 components.
Reflection
Key Challenges
Designing a Novel Platform
When I first explored design systems in this role, I knew the basics such as component libraries and design patterns but was unaware of the broader ecosystem, such as feedback loops. Designing the community portal was uncharted territory, so I my first step to understand how to chart a path forward was to understand user needs and precedence of similar tools via user interviews and competitive analysis.
Collaboration with Development
Effective collaboration between designers and developers is essential for success. To foster alignment and mutual respect, I focused on building strong, collaborative friendships with developers, ensuring clear communication and shared understanding. Additionally, I tailored my approach by using language familiar to developers, avoiding overly technical design terms and specifications.
Reflection
Key Takeaways
Anatomy of a Design System
At the beginning of my internship, I thought a design system was simply a UI kit in Figma. This internship has taught me that is not only a component library. It consists of best practices, contribution and feedback loops, and community as well. Most importantly, it is a unifying language between designers, developers, and consumers.
Telecommunications & Networks
Designing topology and mapping patterns for the Nokia Design System gave me deep insight into a niche domain. Working with unconventional mediums—whether a geographical map interface or an editing canvas for topologies—while upholding design principles was both a challenging and valuable experience.
Contribution Model
When starting this internship, I thought design systems only consisted of Figma UI kits and components. But I later learned that an integral part of a design system like any other product or service, was the feedback loop between the design system team and design system users.
Global Cross-Functional Teams
Working with a global cross-functional team made me hone my approach and skills in communication. I learned the power of storytelling and its impact in increasing buy-in from stakeholders and how to accommodate for language barriers along with using a vocabulary that designers, developers, and PMs can all understand.
Reflection
Looking Back…
Over the course of my one-year internship, I gained valuable knowledge and experience, but what truly made it meaningful were the friendships I built along the way. The connections I made with my colleagues added depth to my time at Nokia, making the experience even more rewarding.
The mobile version is currently under 🚧 construction 🚧
Meanwhile, please feel free to enjoy my portfolio on desktop.
Contact
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© William Lee 2024
2025
William Lee