Building a flexible, scalable component system to support client success across industries.
Symphony3: Enabling Faster Builds Through a White Label Design System
At a glance
- assignmentProject
Symphony3 White Label Drupal Platform
- person_editRole
UX Designer and Frontend Developer
- calendar_clockTimeline
Ongoing (2020–22)
- design_servicesTools
Drupal, HTML, CSS, Twig
- groupUsers
Corporate clients, local government, non-profit sector
- approval_delegationResponsibilities
UX strategy, design system, Drupal theme development, frontend build, UX consultation during client implementations
Project highlights
Scalable component system
Contributed to the creation of a scalable component system and flexible page layouts for multiple client websites.
Frontend theme development
Led frontend theme development in Drupal, building reusable Twig templates and CSS architecture.
Balanced UX and CMS usability
Focused on both customer-facing UX and admin usability, ensuring content teams could easily manage and build pages.
UX support during rollouts
Provided UX guidance and advice during client rollouts, shaping navigation and component use based on best practice.
Collaboration on UI delivery
Collaborated with UI designers to ensure design intent translated effectively into the final build.
Project Summary
Symphony3 is a digital agency specialising in solutions for local government, corporate, and non-profit sectors. To support their growing client base, they developed a white-label Drupal platform—designed to streamline site delivery and maintain quality across a variety of implementations.
I contributed to the platform’s development over a two-year period, working across UX design, frontend development, and system architecture. My role focused on bringing the component library and layout system to life in Drupal, ensuring flexibility, usability, and consistency across client sites.
The goal was to provide a foundation that could scale across projects—supporting varied content structures while maintaining a cohesive experience for both end users and admin teams.
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The challenge
The platform needed to solve key challenges around consistency, flexibility, and efficiency:
- Speed up site delivery while maintaining quality and design integrity
- Support flexible content creation across a variety of client types and industries
- Provide a component system that could handle multiple layout needs without requiring custom development each time
- Ensure the system was usable for both customer-facing audiences and internal content teams managing their own site updates
This required a focus on reusability and adaptability, with components that could serve many purposes while staying consistent.
Approach & Process
My work on the platform spanned both UX strategy and frontend development, collaborating closely with UI designers and product leads.
Key steps included:
- Supporting the planning and architecture of the component system, defining how components would function and interact
- Leading frontend theme development using Drupal, building reusable Twig templates and scalable CSS structure
- Ensuring component flexibility, with variations to support different content types and layouts
- Working closely with UI designers to ensure that designs translated cleanly into the build, preserving intent and usability
- Advising on UX best practices during client rollouts, offering guidance on navigation, information flow, and component use based on user needs and content goals
- Considering admin experience throughout the build, making sure content editing and page building were intuitive for non-technical users
Outlook & Impact
The platform successfully enabled faster and more consistent site delivery across Symphony3’s client base. It gave clients access to a robust component system that allowed them to create and update content independently—while staying within a cohesive design framework.
Key outcomes included:
- Improved content update capabilities for admin users, reducing dependency on developers
- Stronger consistency across client sites, while supporting customisation where needed
- Positive internal feedback on the flexibility and usability of the component system
- A build process that respected design integrity while supporting real-world content needs
The platform was successfully applied across a range of client projects—each with their own specific requirements—demonstrating the flexibility and scalability of the system.
Selected Client Implementations
As part of the White Label Drupal Platform project, I contributed to several client implementations—applying the flexible component system across a variety of industries and use cases. Each project leveraged the shared architecture while meeting its own unique content and engagement goals.
Reflections
This project was an opportunity to think beyond single-site builds and apply system thinking—considering how patterns, components, and layouts could scale across many use cases.
A key focus was on building component variations that worked across different client types—from government services to corporate information sites—while maintaining clarity and ease of use. I paid close attention to both end-user experience and the admin workflow, designing the system so that non-technical content teams could confidently manage their own pages.
Collaborating closely with UI designers also gave me the chance to ensure that design decisions were carried through thoughtfully into the final build, with flexibility where it mattered most.
The project reinforced the importance of designing not just for launch day, but for long-term adaptability and ease of maintenance—building a system that could evolve alongside client needs.