Hinge: A Design System For AIG

We started by cataloging every tech stack, development framework, and product already live across AIG, which meant serving two front-end frameworks, Angular and React. Then we studied how other Fortune 500 companies had solved the same problem, through their design languages, industry reading, and conversations with peers.

We built Hinge from what AIG already had, not from a blank page. We audited AIG's strongest customer-facing products, pulled their best components and styles, and sorted them into Core Components and Building Block Styles. Those became the first MVP.

Before Hinge could reach product teams, it had to earn their trust. We tested components against an ADA design compliance checklist we wrote for the web, covering color contrast, type size, links, and forms, then put the MVP in front of designers across AIG. We repeated that loop until we were confident it was ready to launch.

We launched the Hinge MVP in March 2018, and a roadshow took it to product groups across AIG. I then helped form and co-lead the three-designer team that kept researching, testing, and releasing in increments, with one of us dedicated to communication across teams. Version 2.0 shipped in December 2018.

VALIC, AIG's life and retirement business, had stalled for three months on a native iOS app for its customers. Once our centralized design team brought in Hinge, the product team had one set of standards to align around, and the app was designed and prototyped in a month and a half. On this project, velocity rose 31% and the timeline came in four weeks shorter.