2024 Runner-Up – Best Design System UX – SAP
Pitch: SAP has built a design system that illuminates its overarching strategy. Grounded in rigorous testing, the SAP Design System focuses on accessibility, ensuring consistency, and enabling enterprise customers on an expanding set of platforms, including Web, iOS, Android, Wearables, and AR/VR. It harmonizes and unifies SAP's vast set of experiences.
Overview: The Product and Marketing divisions within SAP collaborated closely with each other to create a truly company-wide system. The resulting work was a modern, expressive, and – importantly – incredibly ownable rebrand. To break through the noise of the technology and innovation space, our team leaned into the anvil as a lynchpin for our work. Employing our custom font 72 and colors that align with the brand's core blue identity, our flexible design system lends itself to multiple creative expressions. This work now lets SAP tell a unified story across brand, marketing, and product experiences through graphic elements, photography, visual design, and interaction patterns that are all crafted with the same core principles. As the new design was implemented, SAP garnered significant attention and ad recall compared to companies that tend to spend more on their advertising presence – proving we had pointed SAP in the right direction. Whether it's a new product launch or a sophisticated marketing rollout, this comprehensive design system now permeates every corner of SAP’s enterprise, ensuring a coherent, unified message that resounds with its audiences.
Why:
The Silicon Valley UX Awards (SVUXA) proudly recognizes SAP Fiori Design as the 2024 Runner-Up for Best Design System User Experience. This award celebrates SAP Fiori’s dedication to pushing the boundaries of Simplicity, Engagement, Empathy, and Design Aesthetics. By unifying the company’s product and marketing divisions, SAP Fiori has created a comprehensive and cohesive design system that delivers consistent, impactful experiences across the enterprise.
Simplicity for a Complex Enterprise
At its core, the SAP Fiori Design System simplifies the communication of complex technological solutions. By embracing a streamlined and modern approach, SAP has crafted a design system that ensures clarity across all touchpoints. The use of 72, SAP’s custom font, and brand colors that align with its core blue identity, further simplifies the brand’s visual language. SAP Fiori makes it easier for users to navigate through various product interfaces, while the system ensures consistent design language, reducing complexity without compromising on functionality.
Engagement Across Teams and Platforms
One of the standout features of the SAP Fiori Design System is its ability to engage users across the enterprise. SAP achieved this through close collaboration between its Product and Marketing divisions, which allowed for a seamless integration of the design system into every facet of the company. Whether developing new products or executing marketing campaigns, SAP Fiori’s design system provides a flexible framework that enhances engagement across teams and platforms.
The flexibility of the design system means that teams can use consistent design elements—such as photography, visual design, and interaction patterns—while also allowing room for creative expression. This balance has not only made SAP’s products more user-friendly but also allowed the company to create a unified brand experience that resonates with both employees and customers alike.
Empathy for Users and Teams
Empathy lies at the heart of SAP Fiori’s design philosophy. Understanding the needs of a global enterprise with a diverse user base, SAP Fiori’s design system was crafted to be accessible, flexible, and easy to implement across various divisions and teams. By creating a single source of truth for all design-related decisions, SAP empowers its internal teams to work more efficiently while maintaining a deep focus on the end-user experience.
The design system is built with the end user in mind, ensuring that no matter the complexity of the task or the platform, users can interact with SAP’s products in a smooth and intuitive way. This focus on user needs has transformed SAP’s design process into one that places empathy and understanding at its core, helping the company better serve its global audience.
Design Aesthetics That Stand Out
In a SAP Fiori’s design aesthetics set the company apart in a competitive landscape design system’s clean, modern, and expressive visual language cuts through the noise of the technology and innovation space, creating an instantly recognizable and ownable brand identity. By leaning into the anvil as a lynchpin for its work, SAP Fiori Design System connects the brand’s rich heritage with its forward-looking approach.
The system’s visual elements—whether in product interfaces, marketing materials, or advertising campaigns—are crafted to ensure coherence while also providing room for creative variation. This approach has not only helped SAP maintain a consistent brand image but has also garnered significant attention and ad recall, proving the effectiveness of its design strategy compared to competitors with larger advertising budgets.
A Unified Message Across the Enterprise
The SAP Fiori Design System is now the foundation for SAP’s unified story across brand, product, and marketing experiences. Whether launching new products or rolling out sophisticated marketing campaigns, SAP ensures that every piece of content adheres to the same design principles, creating a cohesive, coherent message that resonates across audiences.
This design system has transformed how SAP interacts with the world, bringing the entire organization together under a singular design language that is both expressive and functional. As the new design continues to permeate every corner of SAP’s enterprise, it reinforces the company’s mission to deliver innovative, human-centered solutions.
The 2024 Silicon Valley UX Awards applauds SAP Fiori Design for their outstanding work in creating a design system that embodies Simplicity, Engagement, Empathy, and Design Aesthetics. Their ability to unify SAP’s internal teams and deliver a consistent message across all platforms makes them a leader in enterprise design systems.
Congratulations, SAP Fiori Design, for being named the 2024 Runner-Up for Best Design System User Experience at the SVUXA, and for your continued success in shaping the future of enterprise design!
