Autodesk’s Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) establish the user experience for Autodesk’s next generation web and mobile product ecosystem. My team’s work on this project determines the unique characteristics and signature interface elements of Autodesk’s product brand. Our HIG includes set Interaction Patterns and a Visual Style Guide specifying standards and providing helper assets that all product teams use to accelerate time to market and raise quality. No product ships at Autodesk without benefiting from the HIG.
My responsibilities as owner of the HIG program include: 1. selling the concept to executive leaders for funding; 2. managing the design of seed guidelines; 3. determining an ongoing process for contribution and curation of the assets so that it remains world class; 4. promoting adoption to increase coherency of the product line
Problem to Solve
Increase development velocity by giving designers assets to increase brand equity across the product line. Make is easy for users to use a wider range of functionality without training
Challenges
Overcome a 'not-invented here' design culture without the luxury of central design leadership; Implement a sustainable open-source design and curation model; Make guidelines a source of efficiency as opposed to overhead.
