Design Systems

Our award-winning design systems are a competitive advantage for our clients. It’s seen some drastic refinements in recent years. Designing libraries of components (not page templates) has opened up new opportunities. The result is some big changes in the way we work.

It’s a collaborative design process that engages stakeholders of all seniority. This gives us insight into what makes your brand authentic. We will refine and document how you should present yourself online.

Designers from SMILE create frameworks of components that meet organisational goals. We translate the jargon and show you how to stay WCAG 2.x/ADA/Section 508 compliant.

Identifying Site and Menu Architecture Using GatherContent

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At SMILE, we use GatherContent to manage our own website's copy and media content. We have learned that the ability to easily arrange and view our content in this way has highlighted how this system can be further used as a powerful tool to identify or improve site map and menu architecture. Here, we share some of our key learnings.

What is Sketch and why your digital designers should be using it

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I am a marketing communications consultant (Thread & Fable) who works with companies like SMILE on digital projects. In this article, I run through why marketers should pay attention to what systems their tech team are using and why it can make a difference to the project process and ultimately the cost.

User insight driving design choices

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Since 2014 SMILE have been working with the University of Birmingham, a Russell Group institution, on delivering their online event platform. The platform’s longevity is a testament to its success. In its first iteration, the platform began life as a…

An overhaul for Newman University

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To rebrand the university, replace the hosting infrastructure, CMS and design of the Newman University flagship website, including the design of a course database system as well as overhaul and replace the current intranet system with a bespoke offering from…