Alaska ITS Design System

Building Alaska’s Internal Design Language

Alaska Web ITS Design Kit

Alaska Mobile ITS Design Kit 

Project Overview

Alaska Airlines wanted to create a new design system for their internal tools used by employees. They started by learning from their existing “Auro” design system, which is used for customer-facing websites and apps. Building on that, our goal was to make a more flexible and reusable system with better color standards and components. 

This new system was designed to work across both web and mobile platforms, helping teams create consistent and efficient digital experiences for Alaska’s employees.

My Role

• Led the creation and improvement of a design system for Alaska Airlines' internal tools.

• Designed a library of reusable UI components, patterns, and clear guidelines.

•  Worked closely with developers, designers, and product teams to align the design system with business goals.

• Lack of documentation and clear guidelines, causing confusion and inconsistent implementation.

• Ensured a consistent look and feel across all digital products on both web and mobile.

• Focused on making the design system accessible and inclusive for all users.

• Documented design rules and best practices to help teams use the system correctly.

• Shared design decisions clearly and helped others understand how to use the system.

• Collected feedback and updated components based on user needs and new design trends.

• Aimed to improve the user experience while making design work faster and more scalable for teams.

Challenge

• Inconsistent UI across internal tools due to the absence of a unified design system.

• Low reusability of components, leading to duplicated effort and inefficiencies.

• No support for both light and dark modes, making it harder to maintain visual consistency and accessibility across themes.

• Lack of documentation and clear guidelines, causing confusion and inconsistent implementation.

• Designing for both web and mobile platforms, while ensuring a seamless and consistent user experience.

Approach

Research & Audit

• Conducted an audit of existing internal tools to identify common patterns, inconsistencies, and pain points.

• Reviewed the Auro design system to understand what could be reused and what needed to be adapted.
  
  

System Architecture & Foundations

• Defined core foundations: color palette (with light and dark modes), typography, spacing, and iconography.

• Established semantic color tokens to improve maintainability and accessibility.
  
  

Component Library Development

• Designed and built a comprehensive library of reusable components optimized for internal workflows.

• Ensured components were flexible, accessible, and easily adaptable to different use cases.
  
  

Collaboration & Documentation

• Created clear guidelines and usage documentation to help teams adopt the system confidently.

• Held workshops and training sessions to promote best practices and gather feedback.
  
  

Testing & Iteration

• Collected user feedback through prototypes and usability tests.

• Iterated on components and patterns to improve usability and performance.

Outcome

• Created a unified, scalable design system that reduced inconsistencies across internal tools.

• Enabled faster design and development cycles by providing reusable components.

• Improved accessibility by adhering to WCAG standards and supporting both light and dark modes.

• Increased team collaboration with clear guidelines and documented best practices.

• Enhanced employee experience through cohesive, intuitive, and visually aligned digital products.

Reflection

This project was an opportunity to rethink how internal tools can look and feel just as polished as customer-facing experiences. By focusing on accessibility, flexibility, and collaboration, we delivered a design system that empowers teams to build better products faster—and gives employees tools they actually enjoy using.

Thank you for taking the time to review my case study — I truly appreciate your interest and attention. 😇

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