Managing a cohesive brand identity across multiple sub-brands is a complex challenge for many global companies. Multi-brand design systems provide a solution by offering a unified framework that balances consistency with the flexibility to express each brand’s unique identity. Below, we explore eight of the most impactful multi-brand design systems, highlighting key features, contributors, and resources for further exploration.

NewsKit by News UK

NewsKit is the design system that powers some of the UK’s most prominent media brands, including The Times and The Sun. It enables these brands to maintain their unique identities while ensuring a consistent user experience across all platforms, from digital news apps to print publications.

Key features:

• Separate Figma libraries: Each brand has its own Figma library with theme swapping capabilities, allowing for tailored design while maintaining consistency.
• Extensive documentation: Ensures consistency across different platforms, making it easy to maintain a unified user experience.
• Accessibility focus: A strong consideration of accessibility is integrated throughout the design system, ensuring it meets diverse user needs.

Notable contributor:Geri Reid, a seasoned designer, has been instrumental in the development and refinement of NewsKit, advocating for a strong approach to accessibility and a unified user experience.

Explore more:NewsKit Design System

Verso Design System - Condé Nast

Verso is Condé Nast’s multi-brand design system that supports a diverse range of media brands, including Vogue, The New Yorker, and Wired. Verso focuses on creating a cohesive design language while allowing for the unique expression of each brand’s identity.

Key Features:

• Brand-agnostic components: Components are built agnostic of brand, serving as fundamental building blocks that can be applied across various brands, simplifying the system and reducing redundancy.
• Theming system: Allows components to be customized for different brands by applying specific color palettes, fonts, and other design elements, ensuring alignment with the overall Condé Nast brand family while allowing for brand differentiation.
• Brand swap plugin: A custom plugin developed by Condé Nast that automates the process of applying a brand theme to components, significantly saving time and effort for designers managing multiple brands.

Notable Contributor: Gwen Wendell, Lead Design System Engineer at Condé Nast, is a key figure in the development of Verso, has helped ensure that the system remains flexible yet consistent across Condé Nast’s numerous brands.

Explore more:Verso Design System

Volkswagen GroupUI

Volkswagen’s GroupUI design system serves over 15 brands, including Volkswagen, Porsche, and Skoda. This multi-brand design system is designed to ensure a seamless user experience across all digital and physical products, from in-car systems to web applications.

Key features:

• Flexible design principles: Uses agnostic web and Figma components to accommodate brand-specific needs, allowing for adaptable and customizable components.
• Collaborative approach: Encourages each brand to contribute and share design components, enriching the overall system.
• Modular system: Supports shared core components across brands, akin to the modular approach used in Volkswagen’s car models.

Notable contributors:Thorsten Jankowski, formerly User Experience Lead Group IT at Volkswagen AG, has played a crucial role in evolving GroupUI, ensuring it remains flexible and responsive to the needs of Volkswagen’s diverse brands.

Explore more:Multibrand Design System within the Volkswagen group & its brands

Kimberly-Clark Design System

Kimberly-Clark’s design system accelerates growth by providing a robust framework for managing the digital presence of its many consumer brands, such as Kleenex and Huggies. The system focuses on scalability, accessibility, and a unified brand experience across various platforms.

Key features:

• Scalability across mediums and regions: Achieved through atomic design principles and a centralized repository of reusable components, enabling the system to handle a vast product portfolio.
• Improved designer-to-developer handoff: Leverages design tokens and Figma features to ensure consistency and reduce errors, streamlining the handoff process.
• Centralized brand asset management: Simplifies access to correct elements across different projects, ensuring brand consistency.

Notable contributor: Andy Ford, now the Global Head of Product Design at Kimberly-Clark, has been pivotal in leveraging the design system to accelerate brand growth and ensure consistency across global digital platforms.

Explore more:Kimberly-Clark on Figma

NewDay Design System

NewDay’s design system supports the company’s multiple financial brands by providing a unified yet flexible design framework. It ensures consistency across various digital products, from credit card services to consumer finance solutions.

Key features:

• Cohesive and precise components: Designed to ensure accessibility and consistency across all user interactions.
• Efficient and scalable system: Built for fast growth, accommodating new products and ventures with ease.
• White label friendly: Allows for easy skinning and theming of products for different external partners, supporting diverse branding needs.

Notable Contributor: Tony Palmer, NewDay’s Head of Product Design, has been a key figure in the development of this system, ensuring it meets the diverse needs of the company’s various brands.

Explore more:NewDay Design System Overview

The Forge Design System - Harry’s

Harry’s Design System, known as "The Forge," facilitates the launch and management of multiple grooming brands under Harry’s Inc. It focuses on scalability and the seamless integration of new brands into the existing ecosystem.

Key Features:

• Brand individuality: The system allows full customizability for each brand, ensuring unique design systems that go beyond simple tweaks like color and typography changes.
• Layered components: Components are built in layers, offering brands the flexibility to either use existing components out-of-the-box or assemble new ones using sub-components, tailored to their specific needs.
• Decision-making flexibility: The system empowers product managers with more choices, enabling faster and more effective decisions that prioritize user needs over design or engineering constraints.

Notable Contributor: Mae Capozzi, who was a Senior Software Engineer at Harry’s, had played a crucial role in implementing this design system, ensuring it meets the evolving needs of the company.

Explore more:The Forge - Harry’s Approach

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KAYAK Design System

KAYAK’s design system supports the global travel platform’s multiple sub-brands by providing a consistent and user-friendly experience across various services, including flight search, hotel booking, and car rentals.

Key Features:

• Functional theming model: Uses design tokens to manage different brand themes efficiently by assigning tokens based on their function in the UI.
• Shared code component library: Ensures consistency across brands and saves time by offering reusable components for various Kayak products.
• Standardized product design flow: A well-documented process that aligns all stakeholders and catches potential issues early.

Notable Contributor: Alkistis Mavroeidi, Director of Product Design at KAYAK, has been instrumental in the development and ongoing evolution of their design system, ensuring it meets the diverse needs of the platform’s users.

Explore more: KAYAK Design System Overview

DS Motriz - SBF Group

DS Motriz is the design system used by the SBF Group to manage its various brands, particularly in the sports and fitness sectors. It was developed as a mobile-first, brand-agnostic system that allows for quick and scalable creation of brand identities across different platforms.

Key features:

• User-centered design: Solutions are developed with a strong focus on user needs, ensuring that the end products are both functional and user-friendly.
• Mobile-first approach: Components are initially built for mobile devices, reflecting the growing importance of mobile experiences.
• Scalable and accessible: The design system is designed to support all business units within the SBF Group, adhering to W3C accessibility guidelines (Level A and AA).

Notable Contributor: Ana Marysa Santos, Design Lead at SBF Group, has played a key role in the development and continuous improvement of DS Motriz, ensuring it aligns with the group’s overall brand strategy.

Explore more:DS Motriz Design System

These multi-brand design systems exemplify the best practices in creating cohesive, flexible, and user-friendly brand experiences across multiple entities. By leveraging these systems, companies can maintain consistency across their brands while allowing for the unique expression of each sub-brand’s identity. As more brands adopt such systems, the importance of multi-brand design systems will only continue to grow, setting new standards and best practices.

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