Modernizing cloud network management for scale
I led a complete overhaul of the design system for Cisco’s cloud network management products, helping teams build consistent, scalable tools for network operators doing complex, mission-critical work. When Cisco Marketing launched a new brand, I carried its look and feel into the network management tools, so the products finally felt like part of the same Cisco.
Problem: Fragmented UI, poor performance, outdated design, and brand inconsistency
In 2017, the UX and UI team was tasked with revamping the Cloud Network Management platform to be modern, scalable, and aligned with the new brand. An agency was hired to create a new design guide, but it failed, costing us a quarter of progress and shortening our timeline.
Design goals: Four principles, weighted by effort
After internal feedback, UX and engineering teams defined key requirements and goals together.
First iteration: Building the system 2014
Design style guide
Charts and visualizations, design principles, and a full Prime UX style guide gave every team one source of truth.
Design standards site
A dedicated site documented and shared the standards, with usage guidelines, interaction specs, and visual specs for every widget.
Final design
The system as it shipped in Cisco Prime: real product screens built from the new components, font icons, and data visualizations I redesigned with developers.
Delivered in 12 months
Second iteration: Adapting to a new brand in 2015
Overcoming resource challenges with an agency
Two years later, Marketing introduced a new design language. With internal resources tied up, I chose the agency behind the Cisco brand. They were more expensive, but their familiarity made onboarding easy.
As the team was short on bandwidth, I worked with an agency to delivered the style guide within a quarter. The marketing-focused brand lacked detail for complex network use cases, like overly large spacing, so weekly meetings kept us iterating and delivered on schedule.
Aligning design across Cisco
The marketing guide was made for websites: big type, generous spacing, few elements per page. Application screens packed with tables, charts, and alerts need the opposite, and the guide didn’t cover them. To fill that gap, I brought Cisco’s product design teams and corporate Marketing together to define compact standards for application UI, so dense tools stayed readable and still felt like Cisco.
Final design
Impact: From outdated to optimized
My design, product, and engineering partners shared the work company-wide, sparking strong interest in adopting the design system.