From Fragmentation to Scale:
Unified 15+ insurance product lines into a scalable product system

From Fragmentation to Scale:
Unified 15+ insurance product lines into a scalable product system

Consolidating fragmented user journeys, aligning stakeholders, and creating reusable foundations for future insurance products.

Context

Products scaled. The experience didn't

Over time, more than 15 insurance products were launched independently to meet immediate business goals. Each launch solved a local problem. Collectively, they created a fragmented ecosystem.

The same user tasks behaved differently.

The same UI patterns were redesigned repeatedly.

The same engineering effort was duplicated across teams.

The problem was no longer about improving individual products.

It was about creating a scalable foundation for everything that came next.

Over time, more than 15 insurance products were launched independently to meet immediate business goals. Each launch solved a local problem. Collectively, they created a fragmented ecosystem.

The same user tasks behaved differently.

The same UI patterns were redesigned repeatedly.

The same engineering effort was duplicated across teams.

The problem was no longer about improving individual products.

It was about creating a scalable foundation for everything that came next.

Role

Senior Product designer

Team

  • 1 Senior Product Designer

  • Product Managers

  • Frontend Engineers

Timeline

4-6 months (ongoing)

🌟Highlights

Unified design system

Unified design system

from fragmented patterns

from fragmented patterns

150+

150+

screens migrated to reusable components

screens migrated to reusable components

-40%

-40%

design-development handoff friction

design-development handoff friction

▲Experience Consistency

▲Experience Consistency

across insurance products

across insurance products

✅Scalable foundation

✅Scalable foundation

for future product expansion

for future product expansion

The Problem

Different teams were solving the same problems differently

And the cost?

Repeated design and engineering effort

Fragmented user experiences across products

Slow feature development due to lack of reusable patterns

Increasing maintenance cost

Misalignment between product, design, and engineering

Understand The Ecosystem

I resisted redesigning screens until I understood the system

Before proposing solutions, I needed to understand the true extent of fragmentation.

Cross Product Audit

Cross Product Audit

  • Purchase flows

  • Claims journeys

  • Policy servicing experiences

  • Shared interaction patterns

  • Component usage

👀 What I Found 👀

15+

insurance product lines

insurance product lines

150+

legacy screens

legacy screens

Dozens of duplicated

models solving identical problems

models solving identical problems

Inconsistent

spacing & layout structures

spacing & layout structures

Different approaches

to validate & error handling

to validate & error handling

High operational costs

of design, development & maintenance

of design, development & maintenance

Before the Revamp

Different products were solving the same problems differently.

The painpoints?

The painpoints?

Different form patterns

Inconsistent card/summary layouts

Varying quotation attainment behaviour

The real problem wasn't inconsistency. It was duplicated thinking.

Approach

Instead of redesigning products, I redesigned the language they shared

Instead of redesigning products, I redesigned the language they shared

Before proposing solutions, I established 4 design principles that would guide every design decision.

Consistency over customisation

Shared problems deserve shared solutions

Shared problems deserve shared solutions

Flexible by default

Products should adapt without creating unnecessary variants

Products should adapt without creating unnecessary variants

Design with implementation in mind

Reusable patterns only matter if engineering can realistically adopt them

Reusable patterns only matter if engineering can realistically adopt them

Scale through simplicity

The fewer decisions teams need to make repeatedly, the faster products evolve

The fewer decisions teams need to make repeatedly, the faster products evolve

Rather than redesigning products individually, I approached the problem as a systems challenge. I focused on three areas:

Build one language instead of many

Build one language instead of many

Identify common interactions appearing across products and standardise variations into single pattern.


Examples:

  • Form sections

  • Selection modules

  • Information summaries

  • Confirmation patterns

  • Error handling

Design once. Reuse everywhere

Design once. Reuse everywhere

Transform recurring patterns into flexible components that could support different insurance products without requiring custom redesigns.

Treat the system as a shared product

Treat the system as a shared product

Work closely with frontend teams to ensure component definitions were practical, scalable, and implementable.

The goal was not simply visual consistency.

The goal was shared ownership and long-term sustainability.

Key Decisions

Every decision was a trade-off between consistency and flexibility

Every decision was a trade-off between consistency and flexibility

Flexibility vs Standardisation

CHALLENGE

Each product had unique requirements.

Each product had unique requirements.

Over-standardization could restrict product teams.

Over-standardization could restrict product teams.

DECISION

Standardize core interaction patterns while allowing controlled flexibility for product-specific edge cases.

Standardize core interaction patterns while allowing controlled flexibility for product-specific edge cases.

This created consistency without sacrificing business needs.

This created consistency without sacrificing business needs.

Incremental Migration vs Big-Bang Replacement

Incremental Migration vs

Big-Bang Replacement

CHALLENGE

Replacing all screens simultaneously would introduce significant delivery risk.

Replacing all screens simultaneously would introduce significant delivery risk.

DECISION

Adopt a phased migration strategy.

Adopt a phased migration strategy.

Teams could continue delivering features while gradually adopting the new system.

This reduced disruption and accelerated adoption.

Teams could continue delivering features while gradually adopting the new system.

This reduced disruption and accelerated adoption.

Design-owned vs Shared Ownership

CHALLENGE

Systems often fail when treated as design artifacts only.

Systems often fail when treated as design artifacts only.

DECISION

Position the system as a shared product between design and engineering.

Position the system as a shared product between design and engineering.

Shared ownership increased implementation quality and long-term adoption.

Shared ownership increased implementation quality and long-term adoption.

Outcome

We didn't just unify experiences. We changed how products evolve

We didn't just unify experiences. We changed how products evolve

What this enabled:

What this enabled:

Team collaborate on one system

Team collaborate on one system

New products plug into an existing foundation

New products plug into an existing foundation

Governance and quality built into the system

Governance and quality built into the system

Data consistency for better insights

Data consistency for better insights

Better experience for our customers

Better experience for our customers

Impacts & Results

The biggest impact wasn't the UI. It was how teams worked together

The biggest impact wasn't the UI. It was how teams worked together

🙆🏻‍♀️

For users

For users

✅ Predictable experiences
✅ Less cognitive effort
✅ Familiar interactions

🎨

For product teams

For product teams

✅ Faster feature delivery
✅ Shared design language
✅ Reduced duplicated work

⚙️

For engineering

For engineering

✅ Higher component reuse
✅ Less implementation variance
✅ Simpler maintenance

💼

For the business

For the business

✅ Scalable foundation
✅ Lower long-term cost
✅ Faster product expansion

Unified design system

from fragmented patterns

from fragmented patterns

150+

screens migrated to reusable components

screens migrated to reusable components

-40%

design-development handoff friction

design-development handoff friction

▲Experience Consistency

across insurance products

across insurance products

✅Scalable foundation

for future product expansion

for future product expansion

Reflection

Scaling products starts with scaling how the teams think

Coming into this project, I thought I was just standardising front end UI and build a design system. Looking back, I realised I was really helping the organisation change how it approached product design. The biggest challenge wasn't creating reusable components—it was creating shared understanding. When designers, engineers, and product teams begin solving problems with the same mental model, consistency becomes a natural outcome rather than something that needs constant enforcement. That's the lesson I'll carry into every platform or enterprise product I work on.

Next Project

Next Project

Transforming a service business into a scalable self-service ad buying platform

Transforming a service business into a scalable self-service ad buying platform

Contact Me

Contact Me

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