Esri
A social media style guide the whole company could actually use.
A hundred accounts, and no shared standard.
Esri had over 100 social media accounts across departments with no shared visual standard. Account leads made their own graphics when Creative was too slow, so the accounts looked inconsistent. Creative, meanwhile, worked like designers for hire, with no consistent visual language to hand off.
Both sides needed a shared standard, and neither side had one.
They had no shared language.
I ran a listening tour across Social Media, Account Leads, Creative, and Brand before proposing anything. Then a survey of account leads, and a card sort for the information architecture.
The gap was the language. Account leads and Creative were working from two different pictures of the brand.
The Figma file couldn't ship inside the company.
I designed the guide in Figma, then found I couldn't get a license to use it internally. So I taught myself ArcGIS Experience Builder, Esri's own no-code tool, and rebuilt the guide there.
It's a quick reference, not a dense document: brand voice, graphics, best practices, and resources. Account leads can use it on a normal day.
What shipped
- Approved and launched in early summer 2024.
- Adopted across social accounts in multiple departments and countries.
- Faster turnaround on new social designs.
- A no-code build, done without formal Experience Builder training.