ANZ's design system began five years ago as a side-of-desk initiative during a major digital transformation and rebrand. Today, it underpins product delivery across iOS, Android, and Web React with dedicated enablement teams spanning design and engineering. Accessibility is core, with native-first builds and theming support across brands and products. What started as a tool for consistency has grown into shared infrastructure that accelerates delivery, sets standards, and embeds accessibility from the start. The system has become the invisible foundation behind every product, trusted by designers, engineers, and partners as the default way work gets done.

Adoption was the defining challenge. Previous design system attempts had failed, leaving scepticism across a large, siloed organisation. ANZ treated adoption as a product problem, not a governance exercise. Open workshops with designers and engineers shaped backlogs around real friction points, ensuring the system solved genuine user needs. Bias was reset early through frank discussions of myths and misconceptions, creating trust and transparency.

Instead of enforcing mandates, teams were empowered to adopt at their own pace. Early adopters became advocates, helping expand reach organically. To make the system the easiest path, ANZ invested in pre-built flows, mirrored sticker sheets across platforms, and automated tasks such as asset conversion. Community was built through Slack channels, office hours, livestreamed sessions, and onboarding rotations for new designers and partner agencies. Evidence-based iteration kept the system evolving—usage data, feedback, and hackathons shaped updates, while proactive builds prevented fragmentation. The approach shifted adoption from a hurdle into a cultural marker of credibility.

The ANZ design system delivers measurable efficiency and cultural change. Benchmarks show designers complete tasks up to six times faster with significantly fewer errors, equating to millions in annual time savings and strong ROI. Adoption has grown steadily across all platforms, with sentiment scores consistently high and recent NPS at 95. Work now begins with system assets, accessibility standards, and tokens by default, reducing duplication and freeing teams to focus on outcomes. Contribution is recognised in performance reviews, while marketing and agency partners self-serve from system resources. The result is a widely trusted, organisation-wide platform for delivery.