Blackbaud | SKY UX
Leadership Influence: The Director of UX Research reached out to me after seeing the impact of my audit methods. We held meetings to explore how my research approach could be adopted as a standard for new product development across teams.
Mentorship & Team Development: Mentored early-career UX Designers to foster a holistic product mindset. Guided the internal research team to focus on actionable research that directly addressed user pain points and balanced both product and business objectives.
Scope: Enterprise Design System (SKY UX) | Design Operations | AI Integration
The Core Issue: Blackbaud mandated SKY UX across all platforms, but the system relied on deprecated patterns. Rapid M&A created fragmented products, forcing engineering teams to write custom overrides that frequently broke during updates.
The Solution: Led system-wide audits and introduced AI-powered interaction patterns, scalable object models, and developer-focused guardrails into SKY UX.
Impact: Reduced custom code overrides by ~40%, accelerated feature release cycles, and established a unified framework for AI-driven workflows across all enterprise products.
Role
Role
Design System Lead & AI Pipeline Architect
Design System Lead & AI Pipeline Architect
Year
Year
2025
2025
Type
Type
Design System
Design System
Techstack
Techstack
Figma, Claude, VS Code, Storybook
Figma, Claude, VS Code, Storybook
↓75%
Less rework
↓85%
Less components
85%
Less tech debut
↓75%
Less rework
↓85%
Less components
85%
Less tech debut
↓75%
Less rework
↓85%
Less components
85%
Less tech debut
Background
Why are we here?
SKY UX is Blackbaud’s mandated design system, built to power a vast suite of software serving non-profits, higher education, and healthcare institutions.
As Blackbaud rapidly expanded through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), the product ecosystem grew increasingly fragmented. While executive leadership mandated that every product team build using SKY UX, internal Design Ops lacked continuous audit mechanisms to ensure the system evolved alongside modern web standards and real-world product needs.
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Background
Why are we here?
SKY UX is Blackbaud’s mandated design system, built to power a vast suite of software serving non-profits, higher education, and healthcare institutions.
As Blackbaud rapidly expanded through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), the product ecosystem grew increasingly fragmented. While executive leadership mandated that every product team build using SKY UX, internal Design Ops lacked continuous audit mechanisms to ensure the system evolved alongside modern web standards and real-world product needs.
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Background
Why are we here?
SKY UX is Blackbaud’s mandated design system, built to power a vast suite of software serving non-profits, higher education, and healthcare institutions.
As Blackbaud rapidly expanded through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), the product ecosystem grew increasingly fragmented. While executive leadership mandated that every product team build using SKY UX, internal Design Ops lacked continuous audit mechanisms to ensure the system evolved alongside modern web standards and real-world product needs.
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Challenge
What are we trying to solve?
The strict mandate created an operational bottleneck across engineering and design teams:
Outdated Foundations: SKY UX relied on deprecated interaction patterns that didn't support complex, modern enterprise workflows or emerging AI capabilities.
The Override Trap: Because SKY UX lacked components for newer product requirements, teams frequently wrote custom code workarounds.
Breaking Builds: Custom overrides were incompatible with SKY UX's core Angular codebase. Whenever the design system updated, product builds broke, creating massive technical and design debt.
Platform Disconnect: Newly acquired platforms felt stitched together rather than part of a cohesive ecosystem.
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Challenge
What are we trying to solve?
The strict mandate created an operational bottleneck across engineering and design teams:
Outdated Foundations: SKY UX relied on deprecated interaction patterns that didn't support complex, modern enterprise workflows or emerging AI capabilities.
The Override Trap: Because SKY UX lacked components for newer product requirements, teams frequently wrote custom code workarounds.
Breaking Builds: Custom overrides were incompatible with SKY UX's core Angular codebase. Whenever the design system updated, product builds broke, creating massive technical and design debt.
Platform Disconnect: Newly acquired platforms felt stitched together rather than part of a cohesive ecosystem.
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Challenge
What are we trying to solve?
The strict mandate created an operational bottleneck across engineering and design teams:
Outdated Foundations: SKY UX relied on deprecated interaction patterns that didn't support complex, modern enterprise workflows or emerging AI capabilities.
The Override Trap: Because SKY UX lacked components for newer product requirements, teams frequently wrote custom code workarounds.
Breaking Builds: Custom overrides were incompatible with SKY UX's core Angular codebase. Whenever the design system updated, product builds broke, creating massive technical and design debt.
Platform Disconnect: Newly acquired platforms felt stitched together rather than part of a cohesive ecosystem.
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Research
How do we know it’s a problem?
To move past anecdotal complaints and quantify the systemic issue, I spearheaded a multi-phase audit:
Component & Code Audits: Cataloged codebase overrides across 8 core product teams to identify where and why custom code was breaking.
Cross-Disciplinary Influence: Worked across 8 teams, influencing working methods and platform change management. Mentored Project Managers on the Jobs-to-Be-Done framework, resulting in a shift from feature-oriented to task-oriented user stories and Jira tickets.
Developer & Designer Interviews: Conducted 15+ depth interviews with internal engineers and UX leads, mapping their friction points when attempting to comply with system mandates.
Pattern Mapping: Documented recurring UI redundancies across acquired platforms to identify gaps where SKY UX failed to offer standard solutions.
Key Artifacts: Produced a Design System Health Matrix and a Custom Override Heatmap proving that over 60% of custom components stemmed from a lack of flexible, modern interaction patterns.
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Research
How do we know it’s a problem?
To move past anecdotal complaints and quantify the systemic issue, I spearheaded a multi-phase audit:
Component & Code Audits: Cataloged codebase overrides across 8 core product teams to identify where and why custom code was breaking.
Cross-Disciplinary Influence: Worked across 8 teams, influencing working methods and platform change management. Mentored Project Managers on the Jobs-to-Be-Done framework, resulting in a shift from feature-oriented to task-oriented user stories and Jira tickets.
Developer & Designer Interviews: Conducted 15+ depth interviews with internal engineers and UX leads, mapping their friction points when attempting to comply with system mandates.
Pattern Mapping: Documented recurring UI redundancies across acquired platforms to identify gaps where SKY UX failed to offer standard solutions.
Key Artifacts: Produced a Design System Health Matrix and a Custom Override Heatmap proving that over 60% of custom components stemmed from a lack of flexible, modern interaction patterns.
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Research
How do we know it’s a problem?
To move past anecdotal complaints and quantify the systemic issue, I spearheaded a multi-phase audit:
Component & Code Audits: Cataloged codebase overrides across 8 core product teams to identify where and why custom code was breaking.
Cross-Disciplinary Influence: Worked across 8 teams, influencing working methods and platform change management. Mentored Project Managers on the Jobs-to-Be-Done framework, resulting in a shift from feature-oriented to task-oriented user stories and Jira tickets.
Developer & Designer Interviews: Conducted 15+ depth interviews with internal engineers and UX leads, mapping their friction points when attempting to comply with system mandates.
Pattern Mapping: Documented recurring UI redundancies across acquired platforms to identify gaps where SKY UX failed to offer standard solutions.
Key Artifacts: Produced a Design System Health Matrix and a Custom Override Heatmap proving that over 60% of custom components stemmed from a lack of flexible, modern interaction patterns.
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Pivot
Should we make a U Turn?
Initial feedback suggested teams simply wanted "more components." However, the audit revealed a deeper truth: Adding more static components wouldn't fix an outdated foundation.
The turning point came when analyzing incoming AI feature requests across product roadmaps. Teams were attempting to bolt modern AI workflows onto static, legacy UI patterns. I pivoted the strategy from expanding the component library to overhauling SKY UX's interaction architecture, embedding dynamic, AI-powered patterns and flexible object models directly into the core system.
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Pivot
Should we make a U Turn?
Initial feedback suggested teams simply wanted "more components." However, the audit revealed a deeper truth: Adding more static components wouldn't fix an outdated foundation.
The turning point came when analyzing incoming AI feature requests across product roadmaps. Teams were attempting to bolt modern AI workflows onto static, legacy UI patterns. I pivoted the strategy from expanding the component library to overhauling SKY UX's interaction architecture, embedding dynamic, AI-powered patterns and flexible object models directly into the core system.
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Pivot
Should we make a U Turn?
Initial feedback suggested teams simply wanted "more components." However, the audit revealed a deeper truth: Adding more static components wouldn't fix an outdated foundation.
The turning point came when analyzing incoming AI feature requests across product roadmaps. Teams were attempting to bolt modern AI workflows onto static, legacy UI patterns. I pivoted the strategy from expanding the component library to overhauling SKY UX's interaction architecture, embedding dynamic, AI-powered patterns and flexible object models directly into the core system.
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Solution
Did method fix the madness?
I led the initiative to modernize SKY UX, creating a bridge between legacy requirements and next-generation product needs:
AI-Powered Interaction Patterns: Designed native patterns for dynamic AI assistance, natural language inputs, human-in-the-loop validation, and context-aware panel states.
Object-Oriented Design System (OOUX): Shifted component design toward a structured object model, ensuring components reflected real-world user mental models rather than isolated UI elements.
Co-Design Sessions: Partnered directly with product engineering leads during component development to ensure underlying Angular structures matched real application environments.
Guardrails & Migration Guides: Created clear documentation and governance rules to help teams sunset legacy overrides safely without breaking production builds, which were housed in Storybook, which allowed for component staging, code repositories, Figma file storage, and serving as a centralized source of truth in scaling the new SKY UX Design System. Storybook centralizes component requests, keeping Design Operations and Engineering Ops on the same page when teams request new components that would take upwards of three months to now 3 weeks for a touch point or request fulfillment.
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Solution
Did method fix the madness?
I led the initiative to modernize SKY UX, creating a bridge between legacy requirements and next-generation product needs:
AI-Powered Interaction Patterns: Designed native patterns for dynamic AI assistance, natural language inputs, human-in-the-loop validation, and context-aware panel states.
Object-Oriented Design System (OOUX): Shifted component design toward a structured object model, ensuring components reflected real-world user mental models rather than isolated UI elements.
Co-Design Sessions: Partnered directly with product engineering leads during component development to ensure underlying Angular structures matched real application environments.
Guardrails & Migration Guides: Created clear documentation and governance rules to help teams sunset legacy overrides safely without breaking production builds, which were housed in Storybook, which allowed for component staging, code repositories, Figma file storage, and serving as a centralized source of truth in scaling the new SKY UX Design System. Storybook centralizes component requests, keeping Design Operations and Engineering Ops on the same page when teams request new components that would take upwards of three months to now 3 weeks for a touch point or request fulfillment.
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Solution
Did method fix the madness?
I led the initiative to modernize SKY UX, creating a bridge between legacy requirements and next-generation product needs:
AI-Powered Interaction Patterns: Designed native patterns for dynamic AI assistance, natural language inputs, human-in-the-loop validation, and context-aware panel states.
Object-Oriented Design System (OOUX): Shifted component design toward a structured object model, ensuring components reflected real-world user mental models rather than isolated UI elements.
Co-Design Sessions: Partnered directly with product engineering leads during component development to ensure underlying Angular structures matched real application environments.
Guardrails & Migration Guides: Created clear documentation and governance rules to help teams sunset legacy overrides safely without breaking production builds, which were housed in Storybook, which allowed for component staging, code repositories, Figma file storage, and serving as a centralized source of truth in scaling the new SKY UX Design System. Storybook centralizes component requests, keeping Design Operations and Engineering Ops on the same page when teams request new components that would take upwards of three months to now 3 weeks for a touch point or request fulfillment.
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Principles
What was our guiding light?
The solution was grounded in three core design system principles:
Flexibility Over Rigidity: A design system must offer adaptable patterns, not just static UI specs, to accommodate diverse platform architectures.
Structured Object Modeling: Workflows should be anchored in a crisp problem space and clear object relationships before visual treatment is applied.
Ecosystem Compatibility: If a system mandate prevents teams from solving user problems, the system, not the product team, must adapt.
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Principles
What was our guiding light?
The solution was grounded in three core design system principles:
Flexibility Over Rigidity: A design system must offer adaptable patterns, not just static UI specs, to accommodate diverse platform architectures.
Structured Object Modeling: Workflows should be anchored in a crisp problem space and clear object relationships before visual treatment is applied.
Ecosystem Compatibility: If a system mandate prevents teams from solving user problems, the system, not the product team, must adapt.
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Principles
What was our guiding light?
The solution was grounded in three core design system principles:
Flexibility Over Rigidity: A design system must offer adaptable patterns, not just static UI specs, to accommodate diverse platform architectures.
Structured Object Modeling: Workflows should be anchored in a crisp problem space and clear object relationships before visual treatment is applied.
Ecosystem Compatibility: If a system mandate prevents teams from solving user problems, the system, not the product team, must adapt.
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Impact
Did we hit the mark?
Reduced Override Friction: Decreased custom codebase overrides by ~40% across participating product teams within the first two quarters.
Faster Deployment: Cut campaign and feature setup timelines for internal teams by eliminating the need to write and test custom UI workarounds.
System Unification: Established a single source of truth for AI interactions, aligning newly acquired platforms under a shared UI language.
Design Ops Adoption: Adopted continuous audit mechanisms within Design Ops to ensure SKY UX stays aligned with evolving product stacks.
Cultural & Organizational Impact: Strengthened design culture and cross-team alignment by running weekly team meetings and biweekly workshops establishing ways of working and product lifecycle management.
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Impact
Did we hit the mark?
Reduced Override Friction: Decreased custom codebase overrides by ~40% across participating product teams within the first two quarters.
Faster Deployment: Cut campaign and feature setup timelines for internal teams by eliminating the need to write and test custom UI workarounds.
System Unification: Established a single source of truth for AI interactions, aligning newly acquired platforms under a shared UI language.
Design Ops Adoption: Adopted continuous audit mechanisms within Design Ops to ensure SKY UX stays aligned with evolving product stacks.
Cultural & Organizational Impact: Strengthened design culture and cross-team alignment by running weekly team meetings and biweekly workshops establishing ways of working and product lifecycle management.
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Impact
Did we hit the mark?
Reduced Override Friction: Decreased custom codebase overrides by ~40% across participating product teams within the first two quarters.
Faster Deployment: Cut campaign and feature setup timelines for internal teams by eliminating the need to write and test custom UI workarounds.
System Unification: Established a single source of truth for AI interactions, aligning newly acquired platforms under a shared UI language.
Design Ops Adoption: Adopted continuous audit mechanisms within Design Ops to ensure SKY UX stays aligned with evolving product stacks.
Cultural & Organizational Impact: Strengthened design culture and cross-team alignment by running weekly team meetings and biweekly workshops establishing ways of working and product lifecycle management.
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Reflection
What would I do differently?
What I Learned: Executive mandates without continuous support structures create stealth technical debt. Systems grow through trust and utility, not compliance enforcement.
What I’d Do Differently: I would have embedded engineering leads earlier in the research phase. Involving them in the initial override audit would have built advocacy faster and smoothed early rollout friction.
Looking Ahead: As AI continues to evolve, design systems must move from rigid component libraries to fluid, intent-driven pattern frameworks.
AI Use Transparency
In accordance with modern design standards, AI tools were utilized during this project as an operational amplifier:
Research & Synthesis: Used LLMs to summarize raw developer interview transcripts and synthesize qualitative feedback clusters.
Documentation & Drafting: Leveraged AI writing tools to draft, edit, and refine design system usage guidelines and component documentation for clarity and brevity.
Concept Exploration: Utilized AI tools to rapidly explore semantic structures and edge-case scenarios for natural language interaction flows.
All final architectural decisions, user research methodologies, visual designs, and systems logic were executed and validated by me.
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Reflection
What would I do differently?
What I Learned: Executive mandates without continuous support structures create stealth technical debt. Systems grow through trust and utility, not compliance enforcement.
What I’d Do Differently: I would have embedded engineering leads earlier in the research phase. Involving them in the initial override audit would have built advocacy faster and smoothed early rollout friction.
Looking Ahead: As AI continues to evolve, design systems must move from rigid component libraries to fluid, intent-driven pattern frameworks.
AI Use Transparency
In accordance with modern design standards, AI tools were utilized during this project as an operational amplifier:
Research & Synthesis: Used LLMs to summarize raw developer interview transcripts and synthesize qualitative feedback clusters.
Documentation & Drafting: Leveraged AI writing tools to draft, edit, and refine design system usage guidelines and component documentation for clarity and brevity.
Concept Exploration: Utilized AI tools to rapidly explore semantic structures and edge-case scenarios for natural language interaction flows.
All final architectural decisions, user research methodologies, visual designs, and systems logic were executed and validated by me.
Enter image caption
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Reflection
What would I do differently?
What I Learned: Executive mandates without continuous support structures create stealth technical debt. Systems grow through trust and utility, not compliance enforcement.
What I’d Do Differently: I would have embedded engineering leads earlier in the research phase. Involving them in the initial override audit would have built advocacy faster and smoothed early rollout friction.
Looking Ahead: As AI continues to evolve, design systems must move from rigid component libraries to fluid, intent-driven pattern frameworks.
AI Use Transparency
In accordance with modern design standards, AI tools were utilized during this project as an operational amplifier:
Research & Synthesis: Used LLMs to summarize raw developer interview transcripts and synthesize qualitative feedback clusters.
Documentation & Drafting: Leveraged AI writing tools to draft, edit, and refine design system usage guidelines and component documentation for clarity and brevity.
Concept Exploration: Utilized AI tools to rapidly explore semantic structures and edge-case scenarios for natural language interaction flows.
All final architectural decisions, user research methodologies, visual designs, and systems logic were executed and validated by me.
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