In 2022 GSK turned to Wolff Olins to rebrand as they spun off their consumer business. The move allows them to wholly dedicate themselves to science and technology. The new brand reflected that, focusing on bold forms and striking scientific imagery.
For context on the 2022 rebrand, see Wolff Olins’s case study.
Unfortunately, when applied to digital, the rebrand presented technical and accessibility challenges. On behalf of HYD, I was contracted to solve these issues and create GSK’s first company-wide design system.
To enable adoption across the business, a group of representatives from across GSK’s many digital product teams was formed. I led workshops with the group, each of which focused on a key aspect of the proposed design system, like colour, layout and typography. This allowed me to understand the breadth of desires that needed to be catered to across GSK's business. Some teams create expressive brand-driven content for the general public, whilst other teams produce dense scientific tools for healthcare professionals. GSK’s core design system had to cater to them all.
As the Core Design System is to be adopted across the company, it could not be too prescriptive meaning relatively few components were built within it. Only very basic elements could be generalised across all digital products and services across GSK. Examples include buttons, form fields, list items and tabs. The system is intended to be a foundation upon which teams build product-specific systems.
Built around design tokens, components and patterns created in it can switch sizes for different devices and adapt to different colour modes like dark mode. Platform-specific components were also created for native teams.
With the accessibility issues solved, GSK is rolling the Core Design System out to all digital teams within the company. Reactions have been positive across product teams and GSK’s brand team are thrilled to see the rebrand be more widely adopted.
“Receiving so much positive feedback already, people are really impressed with how good all of this is – Thank you so much HYD!”
Anna Morrison, GSK Senior Brand Manager