Texas A&M University Aggie UX Design System
About
The Aggie UX Design System is Texas A&M University’s first centralized, enterprise-wide digital framework. Built to dismantle complex legacy tech silos, it bridges the gap between strict university branding guidelines and modern user interface engineering. The system delivers a unified, responsive component ecosystem designed to orchestrate intuitive digital journeys for over 70,000+ students, faculty, and prospective global applicants.
Role:
UX Designer II
Organization:
Texas A&M University
Marketing & Communications
Timeline:
2023-2026
Focus Areas:
Design System · Higher Education UX · Accessibility · Information Architecture · Training & Adoption
Aggie UX is Texas A&M University ’s web design system, created to help campus teams build consistent, accessible, and brand-aligned digital experiences across a complex university ecosystem.
As a UX Designer II on the UX & Web Strategy team within Marketing & Communications, I participated in the project from its early research and problem definition stages through redesign, validation, launch, and post-launch adoption. My work supported the development of scalable components, templates, accessibility practices, training resources, and implementation support for campus partners.
After the system launched, I was transferred to the Office of the Provost to help apply Aggie UX across one of the university’s largest administrative ecosystems, supporting web design, stakeholder communication, staff training, and adoption across related offices, schools, and departments.
Overview
The Challenge
Before Aggie UX, Texas A&M’s web ecosystem was highly fragmented. Colleges, departments, and administrative units often maintained their own websites with different visual styles, page structures, navigation patterns, and content practices. While the university had brand guidelines, teams still lacked a shared web design system that could translate brand standards into reusable, accessible, and scalable digital experiences.
This inconsistency made it harder for prospective students, current students, faculty, and staff to navigate university information with confidence. Some legacy pages were difficult to maintain, not fully responsive, or limited in interaction. The university needed a system that could support both central brand consistency and the practical needs of many decentralized campus teams.
My Role
I joined the Aggie UX Design System project at its early stage as part of the UX & Web Strategy team within Texas A&M Marketing & Communications. My role spanned research, analysis, redesign, validation, user testing, launch support, and post-launch adoption.
I contributed to identifying recurring usability and content challenges across legacy university websites, supporting system-level design decisions, and helping campus partners understand how to apply the new design system in real web environments.
After the launch of Aggie UX, I was transferred to the Office of the Provost as part of a decentralized adoption strategy. In this role, I helped apply Aggie UX across one of the university’s largest administrative ecosystems, supporting web design implementation, stakeholder communication, staff training, office hours, and ongoing adoption.
Responsibilities
- Research synthesis and UX analysis
- Design system support and validation
- Accessibility and brand-aligned implementation
- Stakeholder communication
- Training, office hours, and adoption support
- Provost website implementation
Research & System
The project began with understanding why Texas A&M’s existing web ecosystem felt inconsistent and difficult to scale. As part of the UX & Web Strategy team, I participated in early research and analysis to identify recurring issues across legacy university websites, including inconsistent layouts, unclear navigation patterns, accessibility gaps, content duplication, and limited responsive design.
Because Texas A&M is a large and decentralized university, the design system needed to support many different types of users and content owners. We were not designing a single website; we were designing a shared foundation that could help colleges, departments, administrative offices, and communication teams build better websites with more consistency and less friction.
Our approach focused on translating university brand standards into reusable web components, templates, documentation, and implementation guidance. The goal was to make the system flexible enough for different campus needs, while structured enough to protect accessibility, usability, and brand consistency.
Approach
- Audited fragmented university web experiences to identify recurring UX and content patterns.
- Analyzed common page types, navigation needs, and content structures across academic and administrative units.
- Supported the creation of reusable components and templates that could scale across different websites.
- Helped validate the system through review, testing, and iteration.
- Supported documentation and training to help non-design teams apply the system with confidence.
From Centralized System to Campus-Wide Adoption
After launch, Aggie UX required more than documentation. It needed training, governance, and hands-on support to help campus teams adopt the system in real-world publishing environments.
Design System Strategy
- Translate brand standards into reusable web patterns.
- Create modular components that could support different page types.
- Improve consistency across decentralized university websites.
- Support accessibility and responsive design through shared templates.
- Make the system easier for non-design teams to apply and maintain.
Training & Adoption
- Weekly office hours for campus web editors and staff.
- Online learning sessions and practical demonstrations.
- Step-by-step training materials and video examples.
- Survey-based collection of recurring questions and pain points.
- Sandbox practice environments to help staff build confidence.
- Ongoing support for applying design system standards in real websites.
Provost Implementation
After Aggie UX launched, Texas A&M moved toward a decentralized adoption model by placing design and web team members within major university units. I was transferred to the Office of the Provost, one of the university’s largest administrative ecosystems, to help apply Aggie UX across its websites and related offices.
This work required more than applying templates. The Provost organization included many schools, departments, offices, and affiliated units, each with different content structures, stakeholder needs, and publishing workflows. One challenge was designing contact and department information in a way that was clear, consistent, and visually organized. Existing design system patterns provided a strong foundation, but they did not fully solve every complex information presentation need.
As the primary web design owner for the Provost site, I met with stakeholders across schools and departments, explored several design options, and helped define a more consistent approach for presenting variable information. For example, some units had designated contact people while others did not; some had office hours while others did not. The final solution needed to support these differences while still feeling organized, accessible, and aligned with Aggie UX.
What I Contributed
- Applied Aggie UX templates and components to complex Provost web experiences.
- Collaborated with schools, departments, and administrative offices to understand content needs.
- Designed several iterations for presenting inconsistent contact and office information.
- Balanced design system consistency with real-world organizational complexity.
- Supported staff training, sandbox practice, weekly meetings, and office hours.
- Helped simplify web update workflows and reduce fear of “messing up” page designs.
Design Decision
Instead of forcing every department into a rigid template, I helped create a flexible structure that could accommodate missing or variable information while preserving consistency. This allowed the Provost site to present complex organizational details more clearly without breaking the overall design system.
Impact
Aggie UX created a shared foundation for building more consistent, accessible, and maintainable web experiences across Texas A&M University. Instead of relying on disconnected page designs and department-specific solutions, campus teams could use shared components, templates, documentation, and implementation guidance to create websites that aligned with university standards.
The system also improved collaboration between central web teams and decentralized campus units. By providing reusable patterns and training resources, Aggie UX made it easier for non-design staff to update and maintain pages while reducing the risk of inconsistent layouts or inaccessible content.
For the Office of the Provost, the adoption of Aggie UX helped simplify web design and update workflows across a large administrative ecosystem. Staff had clearer guidance, more predictable templates, and training support to build confidence in managing their own content.
Outcomes
- Supported a more consistent web experience across university units.
- Improved maintainability through reusable components and templates.
- Strengthened accessibility-first design practices.
- Helped non-design staff apply web standards with more confidence.
- Supported decentralized adoption through training, office hours, and documentation.
- Simplified web update workflows for the Office of the Provost and related units.
Reflection
This project taught me that a successful design system is not only a set of components. In a large university environment, a design system also needs governance, documentation, training, stakeholder trust, and continuous support.
One of my biggest takeaways was that adoption is a design problem. Even when a system is well-designed, people still need time, guidance, and safe practice environments to use it confidently. My background in instructional design helped me approach adoption as a learning experience: understanding staff concerns, collecting recurring questions, creating practical training materials, and designing support structures that helped people build confidence over time.
Through Aggie UX, I learned how to design not only for users who visit websites, but also for the people who maintain them. That shift shaped how I think about scalable, accessible, and sustainable digital experiences.
What I Would Do Next
If I continued this work, I would further explore analytics-informed iteration, clearer governance models, and additional usability testing with both end users and content editors to keep improving the system over time.
Files & Documents
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This is the space to provide tools, guides, and materials to help visitors learn more about your industry or services.
Aug 13, 2035
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Project Showcase
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