There’s no truly anonymous way for employees to talk, vote, and collaborate on workplace matters. Many remain silent, fearing the cost of sharing their opinions, and losing their job. At In-House, I was tasked with building an atomic design system to power a platform where employees could finally speak freely.
Starting from the atomic level, I developed detailed UI components to build a scalable design system for In-House. I contributed to core features, design styles, and component structure while maintaining system consistency across the product.
Built and maintained a scalable atomic UI design system
With over 100+ components, starting from the ground up with styles, colors, typography, etc.
Comprehensive use case documentation outlining primary user flows
Kept Figma files and documentation organized around key user flows to support the live beta launch.
Introduced new design ideas, solutions, and shipped main user posting feature
Working closely with engineers and stakeholders I led the development of new features.
How can we build a design system that ensures consistency across the platform while supporting future development and scalability?
Starting from the atomic level, I developed detailed UI components using the framework of atoms, molecules, organisms, and then fully built pages. This allowed the team to build every screen and flow with reusable elements that could be easily edited and interchanged throughout the design process.
Discussions with employees from small to large companies revealed two key focal points and one glaring issue common to everyone we spoke with.
Trust in Impact
"Even if I share my opinion, will my managers even care? What would push them to act on it.
Toxic gossip or healthy debate
"How can In-House facilitate and avoid the difference between just work gossip and positive conversations.
Fear of true anonymity
Employees shared concerns about the platform’s features, but the most pressing issue was security and trust. Without confidence that their anonymity would be protected, most said they would stay silent, fearing the consequences of their identity being exposed to their managers and co-workers.
Through ongoing feedback and iterative improvements to our atomic design system, I experimented with design solutions and stylistic decisions that strengthened the sense of anonymity for users.
Our team expanded on the dark mode concept, designing screens that felt calming, secure, and private. We validated these choices through a series of A/B tests with over 20 users.
We offered a patented approach to securing employees inside the platform, using workplace security questions, private cookie entry points, and truly anonymous voting/posting to encourage open discussion of workplace matters.
Anonymously Ask, Share, and Get Voted On.
We enabled users to post unfiltered opinions anonymously and have them voted on by others, while avoiding gossip through the removal of 1:1 messaging and encouraging a collective, public voice.
Reply to Posts or Vote on them
Users can reply to any post in a continuous thread, encouraging more voices to be heard. Each post or reply can be voted on, highlighting collective agreement or disagreement.
Voting on Internal Issues
Users can vote on specific matters across three topics: People, Planet, and Process. This creates an overall workplace score. This score incentivizes management to improve and reveals areas where internal issues exist.
Patented Security Questions for Verification
In-House developed a patented system where users enter internal discussion boards and voting through workplace-specific security questions. This guarantees that those sharing opinions are verified employees. These “Minks” can be voted on and updated if a security breach occurs.
Although I had prior experience with nonprofits and startups, working at In-House as an atomic product designer was my first hands-on experience in a fast-paced, agile environment. During this time, I sharpened my design skills, adapted to collaborative workflows, and effectively worked alongside project managers, stakeholders, and developers to deliver impactful solutions.
Design Systems are very important when dealing with tehcnical constraints.
Building a solid design system early saved time and improved collaboration with developers. This was proven to be crucial when dealing with certain technical constraints as iteration improvements were much easier to scale with a design system in place.
Prioritized keeping everyone aligned and fully informed throughout the process.
Regular check-ins with PMs and stakeholders kept the team aligned and agile. Weekly standups and Jira boards accelerated project progress, while design critiques and research reviews with PMs ensured a smooth design process.