IRS Digital Design System
Description
The IRS Digital Design System is a collection of UX guidance materials comprised of the Online Design Guide (ODG), a web-based toolbox that provides IRS stakeholders, designers, and developers guidance on best practices, design standards, and a component library to create digital products; and the UI Kit is a sketch-based toolkit that contains reusable stencils and templates for designers to create designs aligned to current ODG specifications.
Challenge / Goal
Identify and align widespread enterprise needs to create a series of scalable and comprehensive guidance materials that support the creation of unified experiences across all IRS digital experiences. The IRS operates dozens of distinct digital products serving millions of users, inconsistency across those products eroded trust and created unnecessary friction. The goal was to establish a single source of truth that teams could build from confidently and sustainably.
The platform ensured that:- Designers and developers shared a common language through reusable, 508-compliant components and documented standards
- Digital products across the IRS enterprise delivered consistent, accessible, and on-brand experiences
- Teams could onboard quickly and iterate efficiently using the UI Kit and Online Design Guide
From Insight to Impact
Translating research, design, and storytelling into measurable outcomes.
Discover
Led enterprise-wide discovery efforts to map the full landscape of IRS digital products, teams, and stakeholders. Conducted scoping and workflow exercises, formulated targeted outreach strategies, and performed a market analysis of prototyping tools to inform the design portion of the Solution Stack — laying the foundation for a system that could serve both designers and developers across a complex organization.
Explore
Directed the construction of guiding principles and iterated on primary design specifications to establish a coherent visual and interaction language. Initiated and evolved the UI Kit, from low- to high-fidelity stencils, and collaborated with the development team to select the tech stack and stand up the original Component Library, ensuring design and engineering were aligned from the start.
Establish
Partnered across the enterprise to create the operational process that would sustain the Design System long-term. Launched communication programs, including the Design Council and Brown Bag sessions, to build awareness and adoption. Developed tracking mechanisms to align stakeholders on priorities and ensure sprint-level accountability across the initiative.
Results
- Established a single source of truth for IRS digital design, now adopted by 14 digital products across the enterprise
- Strengthened cross-functional alignment through 29 stakeholder interviews and ongoing Design Council engagement
- Enabled 35+ ODG elements, 15 with 508 approval and 10 user tested, driving accessible, standards-based development
- Elevated the design maturity of the IRS enterprise by building repeatable systems that teams could own, extend, and trust
Discover
Identified widespread efforts and stakeholders, conducted scoping and workflow exercises, formulated outreach efforts, and conducted market analysis of prototyping tools for the design portion of the Solution Stack.
Role:Analyst, Facilitator, and Visual DesignerResponsibility:Team Lead | Creative and Strategic Direction
Explore
Constructed guiding principles, iterated on primary elements (design specs.), and initiated the UI Kit (low and high-fidelity stencils) to share with stakeholders. Additional efforts included selecting the tech stack and setting up the original Component Library which was driven by the development team.
Role:Leadership, UI / UX DesignerResponsibility:Team Lead | Creative and Strategic Direction
Establish
Created the operational process, communication efforts (e.g., Design Council, and Brown Bags) to inform stakeholders, and tracking efforts to drive the initiative and stakeholder alignment of priorities.
Role:Leadership, UI / UX Designer and UX StrategistResponsibility:Team Lead | Creative and Strategic Direction
Measure
All ODG elements are prioritized and informed by user testing efforts (35+ total elements, 15 are 508 approved, and 10 are user tested). The team concludes each Sprint with a celebration and retro. 14 IRS digital products now align and leverage the Design System and specifications. Additionally, the team conducted 29 stakeholder interviews with designers, developers, product managers, and business owners to better understand their needs and behavior when using the tools.
Role:Leadership, UX StrategistResponsibility:Team Lead | Creative and Strategic Direction
Reflection
Building a design system for a federal agency of the IRS's scale is as much an organizational challenge as it is a design one. The work required translating diverse, often competing needs across dozens of product teams into a shared framework that was practical enough to adopt and flexible enough to last. What made this initiative succeed wasn't just the quality of the components, it was the investment in people: the Design Council sessions, the Brown Bags, the 29 stakeholder interviews that ensured the system was built for the teams who would actually use it.
The results speak to the durability of that approach. With 14 IRS digital products now aligned to the Design System and a growing library of 508-approved, user-tested elements, the initiative created infrastructure that outlasts any single project. It demonstrated that good enterprise design isn't just about visual consistency, it's about building the processes, relationships, and trust that allow standards to take root and evolve.