James Sann
🙌

James Sann

Design Systems in Melbourne, Australia, He/Him

Researching, exploring, and expanding design system iterations

2 years ago

About

I'm happiest in that intersection between design and development and helping bridge those gaps, whilst realising and overseeing high-quality, crafted experiences. I also love building design culture, mentoring others, and working with companies that appreciate well-crafted products.

I do what’s fun, inclusive & needs to get done.

Work Experience

2023 — Now
Australia

➔ Led the business case to establish a continuous design system function, involving design and engineering, at Domain Group.

➔ Worked on reducing design and engineering silos to create a foundational, cohesive design system team, with leadership from both disciplines.

➔ Aligned design and engineering tools to bridge the gap between designers and engineers.

➔ Developed multiple business cases to enhance designer and engineering tooling for multi-brand, multi-theme workflows.

➔ Established a central source of truth for core design system components, tokens, documentation, and local product system ecosystems, ensuring interconnectivity.

➔ Conducted workshops and educational sessions to facilitate system-wide changes and their impact on design and engineering functions.

➔ Audited the current token system, identifying issues and implementing nuanced improvements.

➔ Coaching product designers on design system work, the whys, and how to think beyond their own product experience.

➔ Developed roadmaps and plans for the core design system team, prioritising maximum impact within capacity.

➔ Implemented contribution and governance models and activities.

➔ Organised proactive office hours sessions to stay informed about product demands and offer guidance.

2021 — 2023
Melbourne/SF

As a member of the Garden design system team, I work predominately within the APAC region to increase Garden (garden.zendesk.com/) adoption by collaborating with product designers, content designers, user researchers, engineers, accessibility experts, internationalisation peers, and product managers and leadership.

Responsibilities include identifying and documenting patterns, components, conducting audits, design system consults with product teams, helping establish best design practices and systems processes throughout the organisation, and pushing an accessible systems mentality for both the product teams and the design system.

2017 — 2021

As a part of MYOB's Design Leadership, I was in charge of the visual direction of our Platform product portfolio that feeds into our expanding design system Feelix (feelix.myob.com).

I came at it from a lens of holistic, customer-focused, principle-first, well-crafted, and accessible execution.

I also led a small team of visual design specialists as well as supporting over 30 product designers across three cities.

Finally, I supported the team through DesignOps initiatives. Ensuring everyone in the team has the appropriate UI and prototyping tooling (Sketch and then Figma), training, and resources to make their jobs more efficient and effective ✌

2015 — 2017
Melbourne

One of 5 designers at the time and having grown to over 30 by the end of 2017, I also helped to design and build out the first version of our now-established design system — Feelix (feelix.myob.com/).

2011 — 2015
2010 — 2011

Education

2001 — 2005
B.Bus, B.Arts at Victoria University
Melbourne

B.Bus, B.Arts, E-Commerce, Multimedia
Majored in Multimedia/Digital