Tate Design Systems
Bringing coherence to a cultural institution's entire digital and physical presence
Tate's digital estate had grown organically, with websites, ecommerce, in-gallery tools and children's platforms each pulling in different directions. The opportunity was to bring coherence without flattening what makes each product distinct.
I led the creation and development of four interconnected design systems: the foundational Tate Gallery system; Tate Shop for ecommerce; Tate Kids for young audiences; and the in-gallery physical experience system.
The result is a coherent visual and interactive language across one of the UK's most visited cultural institutions, making it faster to ship, easier to maintain, and more consistent for millions of visitors.
Built in Figma and developed in close collaboration with front-end engineers, the work went beyond component libraries. It meant establishing shared principles, creating documentation that teams actually used, running workshops to build alignment, and advocating for systems thinking at a strategic level, continuously extending each system as Tate's products and ambitions evolved.
