DevMountain Style Guide

A PDF style-guide I created for DevMountain and DM contractors

Overview:

A style-guide for DevMountain marketing. What you can find on this page is the first iteration of what was meant to eventually grow into a fully fledged design system.

Problem:

DevMountain hadn’t had a dedicated designer since its inception. Instead, it made do with whoever had enough familiarity with design tools to create whatever was needed, and eventually, 3rd party agencies. While there was no issue with the designs and assets made, the lack of a central design vision meant that design decisions were rarely consistent.

Proposed Solution:

A fully formed design system that could be used as a reference and authority throughout DM, hosted on its own subdomain. While this goal never changed, the available resources and scope changed drastically until eventually, it was decided that the initial MVP version of the product would be a marketing-focused style guide in PDF form.

Project Considerations:

• I was initially in a support role on this project while it was being run by Brandon Beecroft, our lead UX instructor. When UX enrollment ramped up, Brandon and his mentors lost any available bandwidth to devote to the project.
• Brandon handed the project over to me, and we redefined the scope of the project down to the final result.

My Role:

• Research
• Design

My Activities:

• I conducted an audit of all current DevMountain UI designs, UI, colors, etc., presented it to stakeholders, and gathered feedback.
• Met with marketing over the audit results to make final decisions on fonts, colors, illustration styles,
• Researched existing design systems and style guides from other companies. (I found Adele especially helpful).
• I ran a DevMountain brand principles ideation meeting with our marketing and curriculum teams. You can see the results on the “Personality” page.
• Met with marketing to review

Design Debt:

• While the style guide has given my own designs a powerful focus, and while I did present and train DevMountain staff on the particulars of the system, the fact that I am the sole designer meant the widespread effects of this style guide are mostly limited to myself. I am not confident that the style guide will be the authority it was intended to be (especially after I leave), but I hope that it has set a precedent with future designers and agencies.