FilmTrack Design System

My Role

As the lead designer and driving force behind the FilmTrack Design System, I was responsible for establishing a scalable design foundation that would improve efficiency, consistency, and collaboration across design and development teams.

Process

The FilmTrack Design System was built using Atomic Design principles, ensuring a scalable, modular, and efficient approach to UI component creation. By starting small and progressively scaling, I was able to establish a structured and maintainable component library that aligned with both design and development workflows.

Defining the Initial Component List

Before diving into design, I conducted a full audit of FilmTrack’s UI to identify the core building blocks of the system. This process involved:

• Reviewing existing UI patterns from both the legacy platform and updated Angular interface.

• Identifying inconsistencies and areas where UI elements needed standardization.

• Creating an initial backlog of essential components to prioritize in development.

Establishing Atoms & Molecules

Following Atomic Design principles, I started with the smallest reusable elements before scaling to more complex structures:

• Atoms: Individual UI elements such as buttons, icons, text fields, typography, and colors.

• Molecules: Small UI groupings, such as input fields with labels, dropdowns, and button groups.

By starting at the atomic level, I ensured flexibility and scalability, allowing for seamless reuse across multiple products.

Scaling to Organisms, Templates & Pages

Once atoms and molecules were standardized, I moved on to larger, functional components:

• Organisms: Interactive UI sections, such as modals, navigation bars, and form structures.

• Templates & Pages: Complete page structures that defined content layouts and interactions, ensuring consistency across FilmTrack’s suite of applications.

This structured approach allowed us to build UI faster, maintain consistency across the platform, and streamline developer handoff.

Auditing, Iterating, and Expanding Components

After establishing core UI components, I conducted a system-wide audit to:

• Identify additional components frequently used across the platform.

• Plan for component variations and states, ensuring accessibility and flexibility.

• Create a backlog of components needing enhancements or new variations.

Collaboration with Development for Implementation

Once new components were identified, I worked closely with the development team to:

• Add components to the development backlog and align on prioritization.

• Define component specs and interaction states for seamless implementation.

• Conduct design reviews post-development to ensure visual and functional accuracy.

By following this iterative and scalable process, I built a flexible, reusable, and developer-friendly design system that improved efficiency, consistency, and collaboration across teams.

Key Features

The FilmTrack Design System was built to standardize UI components, improve efficiency, and ensure consistency across FilmTrack’s suite of products. It provided a structured approach to UI development, allowing designers and developers to work faster and more collaboratively. Below are the core elements that made up the system:

Utilities – Foundational Design Elements

These utilities defined the branding and structure of the design system, ensuring consistency across all UI elements.

• Branding – Unified brand identity with consistent design patterns and visual hierarchy.

• Colors – A scalable color system for primary, secondary, accent, and status-based UI elements.

• Fonts & Typography – Standardized text styles and font weights for readability and accessibility.

• Grid & Layout – Defined responsive grid structures to support multiple screen sizes and devices.

• Icons & Imagery – A cohesive icon library and image guidelines for branding and content.

• Device Accessories – UI elements that adapt to different screen sizes and device types.

Atoms – The Smallest UI Elements

Atoms are the building blocks of the design system—simple UI elements that combine to create more complex components.

• Badge Counter – Notification indicators with customizable styling and counts.

• Link – Standardized text links for in-app navigation and external content.

• Media – Responsive image and video display components for content-heavy screens.

• Pagination – Page navigation controls for multi-page views.

• Selection Actions – UI elements for multi-selection and bulk actions.

• Status Label – Color-coded labels to indicate status updates (e.g., active, pending, completed, etc.).

• Tag & Thumbnails – Small UI elements for categorization and content previews.

Components – Reusable UI Elements

These components combined atoms into functional, repeatable UI elements for improved design consistency.

• Avatar – Profile images with size and shape variations.

• Breadcrumbs – Navigation elements for multi-level page structures.

• Button Set – A standardized collection of primary, secondary, and icon buttons.

• Content Switcher – Toggle between different content views or settings.

• Data Elements – Predefined UI elements for displaying numeric, textual, or status-based data.

• Divider – Spacing and separation components for better UI clarity.

• Filter Pills – Selectable filter UI for refining data views and search results.

• Loader – Loading indicators for async operations and page transitions.

• Notifications – Alert banners and toast messages for system feedback.

• Progress Indicator – Step-based or linear indicators for process tracking.

• Tabbed Highlight Menu – An interactive navigation menu with hover and selection states.

• Tooltips – Hover-based UI elements for extra context and inline guidance.

Form Components – Interactive Input Elements

The system provided a comprehensive form library to standardize user input across FilmTrack’s platform.

• Checkbox Set & Radio Set – Standardized selection inputs with multiple layouts.

• Date Picker – Calendar-based selection for date inputs.

• Dropdown List – Standardized dropdown menus for user selection and filters.

• Dynamic Input – Interactive input fields that adapt to user input needs.

• File Uploader – Drag-and-drop and file selection UI for uploading content.

• Form Inputs & Quantity Input – Core input fields for text, numbers, and validation states.

• Locale Input – A region-based input for language and localization settings.

• Rich Text Editor – Advanced text input with formatting options.

• Search Bar – A standardized search UI with filter and suggestion options.

• Slider Input – Drag-based numerical input for range selection.

• Switch Toggle – On/off toggle switches with animation states.

Organisms – Larger UI Components

Organisms combine multiple components into fully functional UI sections.

• Accordion – Expandable content sections for FAQs, contracts, and nested content.

• App Header – Top navigation bar with branding and primary actions.

• Card & Carousel – Content grouping UI for structured layouts and image browsing.

• Data Table – A responsive, filterable table system for displaying structured data.

• Detail Header – UI for record pages and contract overviews.

• Footer Action Bar – Persistent footer navigation for key actions.

• Forms & Grids – Standardized structures for input-heavy interfaces.

• Image Section – Layouts optimized for content-heavy and visual pages.

• List & Navigation Components – Navigation rails, drawers, and tab bars for organizing multi-page workflows.

• Rights Section – A custom IP rights management UI for FilmTrack users.

Templates – Reusable Page Layouts

Templates provided predefined page structures that could be customized based on product needs.

• Modal – Standardized pop-up interactions for user feedback and quick actions.

• Page & Sheet Layouts – Prebuilt templates for FilmTrack and RoyaltyZone product views.

• Slideout Panels – Expandable side panels for multi-step workflows and settings.

Conclusion

The FilmTrack Design System was a transformative initiative that fundamentally improved the efficiency, consistency, and scalability of FilmTrack’s suite of products. By consolidating branding guidelines, standardizing UI components, and integrating reusable coded elements, the design system created a seamless bridge between design and development, ensuring that every feature was built with visual and functional consistency.

Beyond streamlining the product’s look and feel, the design system significantly enhanced workflow efficiency, allowing designers and developers to work faster and with greater alignment. Designers no longer needed to recreate components for each new feature, and developers could confidently implement designs with the assurance that components were already validated for usability and accessibility. This shift not only accelerated product development but also reduced inconsistencies and design debt across FilmTrack and RoyaltyZone.

By introducing a structured, scalable approach to UI design, the FilmTrack Design System became the foundation for future-proofing product development. It empowered teams to focus on solving user problems rather than fixing inconsistencies, ultimately delivering a more polished and intuitive experience for FilmTrack’s clients. This system will continue to evolve, adapting to new challenges while maintaining its core purpose—ensuring that every design decision is guided by efficiency, usability, and a cohesive brand experience.