Deutsche Telekom AG, Product Design Style Guide
In 2009 Deutsche Telekom launched a design initiative to improve user experience across their products and services. Part of it was DNA-level guidelines for all design disciplines.
How I contributed to a better user experience in Telekom’s products
I fleshed out a set of validated writing guidelines as part of Telekom’s product DNA. This was a multi-step process over 12 months.
The project: One style guide to rule them all
This large-scale style guide development was my initiation to HCI, design thinking, and user experience writing. I joined a larger team of experts for all relevant design disciplines. Two creative directors with experience in object design lead the team.
Getting to work: Researching human factors
This research had initially been outsourced, but I asked to do it myself. I wanted to uncover and internalize relevant concepts and principles rather than use the findings from a report.
Creating a mood board for content overview
Finding a concept structure for my guidelines
To ensure my guidelines had DNA quality, I had to validate them against a large set of brand, psychology, technology, strategy, and portfolio requirements. So, I developed the structure for a validation concept.
Populating the validation concept
I rounded out everything I had created so far and added examples to demonstrate how rules apply. Also, I synced up with my teammates from visual design and icon design on functional wordings and labels. My teammate Veronika helped design the concept.
A look inside the validation concept
How all design disciplines aligned
Next was a team workshop. The goal was to align our guidelines with overarching design rules and models. We enriched and prioritized terms and principles like hierarchy, sectioning, or alignment. In the end, we had come up with an extended set of terms and concepts.
Final destination DNA structure
The alignment with design rules and models was an intermediate step. Afterward, I repackaged the validated contents into the DNA structure. And that’s how I shipped my work.
The outcome in Telekom’s own words
Single touch point for best-in-class customer experience
The Brand & Design portal makes brand and design strategy, customer experience principles, design guidelines, and ready-to-use components available for developing our specific Telekom appearance for products, services, and communication. The contents convey concepts, methods, rules, and standardized components for developing consistent brand and user experiences across all touchpoints and media. Brand & Design is the central point of contact for the whole Deutsche Telekom Group.