Designing the Backbone of Hilton’s Web Experience
With over 20 brands and more than 8,000 properties worldwide, Hilton needed a unified system to streamline how we design and build for the web. This work created shared standards, accelerated delivery, and brought global consistency to our digital presence.
MY ROLE
I was the original designer for Hilton’s web design system, setting the foundation for our core components and principles. As the opportunity and complexity grew, I built the business case to secure funding, hired and directed the design system team, and established the governance model to ensure long-term sustainability across the enterprise.
Building the Foundation for Consistency at Scale
Hilton’s digital footprint spans thousands of property websites and serves millions of users across a complex ecosystem of applications, including shopping, booking, account management, B2B tools, and inventory systems. As guest expectations grew and the business evolved, we needed a unified design system to bring cohesion, speed, and clarity to every touchpoint.
Auditing Fragmentation, Aligning on Principles
We began by cataloging inconsistencies in visuals, patterns, and performance across Hilton’s digital properties. Through stakeholder interviews and usage analysis, we uncovered where teams were duplicating efforts, deviating from brand guidelines, and introducing unnecessary complexity. We benchmarked mature design systems to guide our approach and align on foundational principles. As we centralized components and formalized standards, we layered in a practice of experimentation—regularly running multivariate tests on component variations to ensure the system was driving performance as well as consistency.
Emphasizing Scale and Integration
Our team piloted the first universal asset system in partnership with marketing, product, and engineering. As the system matured, it expanded to support multiple technology platforms, gained parity with code, integrated into our content management system, and embedded accessibility standards by default. It also accelerated prototyping for research and testing, enabling faster iteration and tighter feedback loops. The system evolved to serve both centralized and distributed teams, supporting a range of fidelity levels while maintaining team velocity and improving development handoff.
Driving Consistency, Speed, and Scale
The design systems reduced redundant work, improved accessibility, and significantly cut time-to-market. Hilton.com now runs on a scalable component library, with design assets that flex across regions, languages, brands, campaigns, and business lines—enabling faster innovation and a more consistent digital experience.