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Best Article Finalist

Growing a design system organically

Andrei Garcia & Aaron Schmelzer

A summary of the article

HP Design recounts the organic growth of its Veneer system—HP Inc.’s software design system—in a largely hardware‑oriented environment. Initially a small, informal code library tied to an R&D project, Veneer evolved into a formally funded team supporting over 70 software groups. The design system helped reduce duplicated effort, increase cohesion across silos, and save significant time and money—estimated at $6.2 million in the first half of 2024—while overcoming internal resistance through collaboration, humility, and demonstrable value.

Highlight

“In 2021, Veneer ‘the side project’ became the ‘Veneer team,’ with its own funding and resources. At the time of publishing, the design system now supports 70+ software teams within HP.”

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Timeline

  1. Nominations will be open from Tuesday 13 May. If you have any questions about the nomination process, then check out the FAQs, or if your question isn't answered, please get in touch at community@zeroheight.com

    13 May, 2025

  2. Once the nominations are closed, we'll be collating the longlist and working through it to determine a shortlist. The shortlist will be determined by the team at zeroheight, and will be based on uniform judging criteria (which we will share in a month or two). With the shortlist creation, we aim to remove as much bias as possible and give everyone a fair chance across the board.

    22 August, 2025

  3. In September, the shortlist will be announced, including public voting! We'll notify all folks as to whether they made the shortlist. The judges will then individually judge each shortlisted entry. We'll also have public voting on each category live on the site!

    15 September, 2025

  4. Once all the judges and public votes are counted, we'll then be able to determine the winner for each category, based off a weighted compilation of votes.

    3 November, 2025

  5. In December, we'll gather the community together at an event in London to announce the winners live. We'll also be live-streaming the ceremony for those who can't make it. The live event will be invite only, but we'll offer the community a chance to apply for a ticket later in the year! We'll also post the results to the zeroheight site the day after the event.

    December 2025 (TBA)

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