April 7, 2025

April 7, 2025

Scaling Design Without Adding Designers

Scaling Design Without Adding Designers

Scaling Design Without Adding Designers

One designer. A high-velocity team. Designed together, delivered faster.

One designer. A high-velocity team. Designed together, delivered faster.

One designer. A high-velocity team. Designed together, delivered faster.

Figma structure for templates

Year

2025

Role

Design Strategist

Category

Project Efficiency | Passion Project
Project Efficiency | Passion Project
Project Efficiency | Passion Project

Product Duration

2 Months
Problem
Design Capacity Was Outpaced by Demand
Design Capacity Was Outpaced by Demand
Design Capacity Was Outpaced by Demand
Design Capacity Was Outpaced by Demand

As the sole UX/UI designer on a fast-paced team, I faced a challenge - a high volume of UX/UI design requests while working on several projects at once.


Many requests came from Business Analysts (BAs), but:

  • Requests came in varying formats

  • Clarifying intent took time

  • Design quality varied depending on the structure provided


We needed to find a solution to manage the workload effectively without compromising quality or productivity, especially since additional resources for hiring a new designer were not available.

Discovery & Exploration
Discovery & Exploration
Discovery & Exploration
BAs Were Already Designing, Just Without The Right Stucture
BAs Were Already Designing, Just Without The Right Stucture
BAs Were Already Designing, Just Without The Right Stucture

To shape the right support system, it is important to understand BAs’ proficiency in UX/UI, their familiarity with design tools, and their experience in user research. Research methods should include both discovery and exploratory approaches:


Task Analysis

Review the team’s existing tasks and project contributions to:

  • Map out where design-related thinking already occurres

  • Identify touchpoints where design collaboration could be introduced or improved


Embedded Research

Work alongside BAs on live projects to observe:

  • How they structure ideas and propose solutions

  • How they share early-stage concepts

  • Where confusion or inefficiencies emerge in design handoffs


Document Analysis

Examine design-related artifacts that BAs created previously:

  • Sketches or low-fidelity wireframes created in non-design tools

  • Notes or documentation intended to describe UX behaviours


Scenario-Based Survey

Create a survey with hypothetical design scenarios and ask BAs how they would approach them. This helps me:

  • Assess their conceptual grasp of UX/UI principles

  • Understand how they apply research insights to interface design

  • Identify strengths and gaps in their workflows


BAs have strong analytical thinking but lack the frameworks, tools, and confidence to express their ideas through UX and UI effectively.

To shape the right support system, it is important to understand BAs’ proficiency in UX/UI, their familiarity with design tools, and their experience in user research. Research methods should include both discovery and exploratory approaches:


Task Analysis

Review the team’s existing tasks and project contributions to:

  • Map out where design-related thinking already occurres

  • Identify touchpoints where design collaboration could be introduced or improved


Embedded Research

Work alongside BAs on live projects to observe:

  • How they structure ideas and propose solutions

  • How they share early-stage concepts

  • Where confusion or inefficiencies emerge in design handoffs


Document Analysis

Examine design-related artifacts that BAs created previously:

  • Sketches or low-fidelity wireframes created in non-design tools

  • Notes or documentation intended to describe UX behaviours


Scenario-Based Survey

Create a survey with hypothetical design scenarios and ask BAs how they would approach them. This helps me:

  • Assess their conceptual grasp of UX/UI principles

  • Understand how they apply research insights to interface design

  • Identify strengths and gaps in their workflows


BAs have strong analytical thinking but lack the frameworks, tools, and confidence to express their ideas through UX and UI effectively.

To shape the right support system, it is important to understand BAs’ proficiency in UX/UI, their familiarity with design tools, and their experience in user research. Research methods should include both discovery and exploratory approaches:


Task Analysis

Review the team’s existing tasks and project contributions to:

  • Map out where design-related thinking already occurres

  • Identify touchpoints where design collaboration could be introduced or improved


Embedded Research

Work alongside BAs on live projects to observe:

  • How they structure ideas and propose solutions

  • How they share early-stage concepts

  • Where confusion or inefficiencies emerge in design handoffs


Document Analysis

Examine design-related artifacts that BAs created previously:

  • Sketches or low-fidelity wireframes created in non-design tools

  • Notes or documentation intended to describe UX behaviours


Scenario-Based Survey

Create a survey with hypothetical design scenarios and ask BAs how they would approach them. This helps me:

  • Assess their conceptual grasp of UX/UI principles

  • Understand how they apply research insights to interface design

  • Identify strengths and gaps in their workflows


BAs have strong analytical thinking but lack the frameworks, tools, and confidence to express their ideas through UX and UI effectively.

Insights
Insights
Insights
BAs Are Key Design Collaborators
BAs Are Key Design Collaborators
BAs Are Key Design Collaborators

BAs attempt to create early mockups using screenshots and snipping tools on their own. However, they do it without UX or UI standards in place, leading to misalignment and rework.


What if we supported BAs with the right tools and guidance to express their ideas visually?



By recognising this existing behaviour, we realised the most effective solution wasn’t about changing how people worked, but supporting them to work better.



This approach:

  • Builds on workflows that the team already follows

  • Formalises and guides existing efforts, rather than replacing them

  • Creates a clear, supported path from BA insight to usable design handoff

Woman working on laptop
Woman working on laptop
Woman working on laptop
Solution
Solution
Solution
A Streamlined BA-to-Design Process
A Streamlined BA-to-Design Process
A Streamlined BA-to-Design Process
Design Guidebook in Figma

I developed a guide with:

  • Templates for common page patterns

  • Naming conventions and best practices

  • Step-by-step instructions for consistency


Hands-On Workshops

To build confidence and familiarity with design tools, I ran sessions on:

  • UX/UI fundamentals

  • Design patterns and layouts

  • How to give and receive constructive feedback


A 3-Step Collaboration Flow

We implemented a shared process:

  1. Initiate → Select a template, define the use case

  2. Draft → Create annotated mid-fidelity mockups

  3. Handoff → Share in Figma and JIRA with context notes

Results to come, thank you for reading 😊
Results to come, thank you for reading 😊
Results to come, thank you for reading 😊

  • More projects More projects

Client List page

Centralised Insights for Smarter Client Decisions

Internal CRM System

Client List page

Centralised Insights for Smarter Client Decisions

Internal CRM System

Client List page

Centralised Insights for Smarter Client Decisions

Internal CRM System

A MARKET OPPORTUNITY NO TOOL TO CAPTURE IT

Opportunity

A MARKET OPPORTUNITY NO TOOL TO CAPTURE IT

Opportunity

A MARKET OPPORTUNITY NO TOOL TO CAPTURE IT

Opportunity

Let'S WORK

TOGETHER

CONTACT NOW

Let'S WORK

TOGETHER

CONTACT NOW

Let'S WORK

TOGETHER

CONTACT NOW

Let'S WORK

TOGETHER

CONTACT NOW
Figma structure for templates
Figma structure for templates
Figma structure for templates
Figma structure for templates