Eppo, an experimentation and feature management platform, had entered its growth stage. As we prepared for our Series B announcement, we undertook a comprehensive rebrand to reflect our evolution. This rebrand introduced a new visual identity which needed to be reflected in the product.
Opportunity
The design team was tasked to reskin the entire product to embody the new brand elements. In addition to a new logo, the new brand also introduced a new color palette, typeface, and style guidelines.
The idea of elevating the project beyond visual updates with its potential to improve design implementation efficiency resonated with both the design team and management.
While updating the product visual was the catalyst, I proposed using the rebrand as an opportunity to create a scalable design system address long-needed quality-of-life improvements.
We saw an opportunity to start fresh, be meticulous about consistency, and tackle long-needed quality-of-life improvements.
The rebrand project went beyond visual updates. We aimed to improve the entire product experience through better hierarchy, components, and responsiveness. We needed to balance immediate brand alignment with long-term system improvements.
The rebranded website would require key visual elements to be implemented in the product, but there was still time before the Series B announcement to launch the comprehensively rebranded product. Three weeks before the website launch the team agreed on a phased launch plan with 3 milestones.
This structure allowed us to meet immediate brand needs while systematically improving our design infrastructure.
We began by implementing design tokens—a crucial step that our engineering team identified during our kickoff meeting. Previously, text styles and colors were largely hardcoded, making systematic updates challenging and time-consuming. By establishing tokens for colors, typography, corner radius, and other fundamental elements, we created a single source of truth that would:
- Enable efficient, system-wide updates
- Ensure consistent implementation
- Reduce technical debt
- Improve maintainability
Milestone 1 launched alongside our marketing website, generating hype and anticipation for our upcoming changes.
Usability and Reusability
A primary motivation for this project was ensuring new components were easily adopted by both designers and engineers while maximizing scalability. Following our design principle, components needed to be reusable and serve multiple surfaces and use cases.
The job-to-be-done for a design system is to enable teams to ship thoughtful, polished products without rebuilding UI components.
Clear Prioritization
Our development work for both Rebrand Milestone 1 and 2 began while the design system was still evolving. To manage this parallel process effectively, we created a clear prioritization for component development and built them in order of engineering workflow:
- Built primitives first to establish foundation
- Prioritized high-impact surfaces with engineering team
- Drove early adoption among designers for ongoing and future projects
Stronger Design and Code Connection
We established a weekly design and frontend engineering sync, discussing best practices for implementation quality and efficiency.
To strengthen the connection between Figma and code, I proposed using the Storybook plugin, which links design files to our Storybook library. Engineers quickly adopted it after seeing how it streamlined component discovery and usage. This integration became our standard practice, significantly reducing handoff friction and implementation time.
Quality Control
Implementation quality was crucial to achieve our goal of systematic improvements. We established clear protocols to ensure precise implementation:
- Documented component use cases with examples
- Detailed annotations in Figma
- Frequent QA sessions driving quick fixes
With consistent collaboration and improved design implementation workflow, the team successfully launched Rebrand Milestone 2 ahead of the Series B announcement. The new look was praised and loved by many customers, making design a big differentiator for Eppo.
