Telefónica
One multi-brand design system

Design System team
Multi-brand architecture
Documentation and adoption

As part of the Design System team from inception at Telefónica, we conducted a comprehensive audit across 10 brands, analysing digital products at a component level to identify shared patterns and critical differences.

This insight informed the creation of a single, scalable core component library, designed as the foundation for all brand implementations. From this base, we developed individual branded libraries, enabling product teams to work consistently while maintaining their unique visual identity.

The process was highly collaborative, spanning a distributed team working across multiple markets and brand ecosystems. Together, we delivered 30+ core components, 10 branded libraries, and a fully documented Design System, providing clear guidance, governance, and a scalable framework for ongoing product development.

CHALLENGE

Telefónica operates multiple mobile brands across different markets, each with its own visual language and identity. As these brands were brought under a single organisation, there was a need to unify the experience without losing brand individuality.

The objective was to establish a shared Design System core that enabled designers across the business to collaborate, standardise patterns, and share best practices. This ensured a consistent, seamless user experience, particularly at transition points between brand-specific products and Telefónica owned platforms, while still allowing each brand to retain its distinct identity.

SOLUTION

By establishing a shared core component library, each brand retained its distinct visual identity while benefiting from consistent, reusable patterns and user journeys. This enabled designers to collaborate more effectively, align on best practices, and deliver a more cohesive experience across the ecosystem.

From a development perspective, shared functionality only needed to be built once. Brand-specific styling could then be applied on top of a common foundation, significantly reducing duplication of effort. This approach improved efficiency, reduced costs, and allowed engineering teams to focus on delivering new features and modernising legacy systems rather than rebuilding the same interfaces across multiple brands.

OUTCOME

The team delivered 30+ core components and 10 branded libraries, supported by documentation and a shared approach to component reuse. Brand teams could retain their identity while working from a common foundation.

The architecture gave designers and engineers a consistent starting point for product work, with guidance on when to extend a brand library and when to contribute to the shared core.

Illustrative efficiency estimate: if 20 designers each save 1–2 days per month through reuse, the annual equivalent is 240–480 designer-days (20 × 1–2 × 12). This is a modelled scenario, not a measured project outcome, and excludes engineering savings.

ANALYSIS

By mapping component matrices across products, we visualised the full landscape and identified patterns, overlaps, and inconsistencies. This enabled informed decisions when defining a unified core component library, establishing a scalable foundation from which all branded libraries could be built.

An Apple iMac computer with a keyboard, mouse, and stylus pen on a black background. The screen displays a design interface with buttons and color options.

LIBRARY ARCHITECTURE AND WAYS OF WORKING

As the Design System team, we established the foundations for scale - defining file structures, naming conventions, and ways of working to ensure consistency and efficient collaboration across teams.

We developed and delivered presentations to drive adoption, clearly communicating components, patterns, and workflows. In parallel, we built a multi-library, multi-brand system architecture, enabling a shared core of components to be reused across established brands while supporting their individual identities.

GOVERNANCE AND ADOPTION

Core components were developed within the central Design System and propagated to brand libraries, with theming applied to preserve each brand’s visual identity during updates.

Brand-specific libraries were extended with tailored components, enabling individual teams to manage their own needs while remaining aligned to the shared foundation.

Adoption was driven through Design System workshops and regular cross-team sessions, encouraging collaboration, reinforcing cohesion, and helping teams determine when components should remain brand-specific or be elevated into the core library.