CASE STUDY 01
Brought Strategy and Clarity to a Fragmented Design Org
Turned a vendor-driven mess into a focused, in-house design team.
The Challenge
I was hired by Inspira Financial to create a strategy and execute on how to solve the following problems:
0 in-house designers
No design system or standards
Overspending on vendors
Handoffs, rework, and lost context
Design excluded from strategy
No trust in design leadership
“We were spending a lot on design, work felt disconnected — too many vendors, no real ownership. With all the acquisitions and legacy products, we needed someone who could think strategically and build a true in-house team. That’s why I hired Bill.”
Sirisha Gorjala
Chief Product Officer
My Role
Design Org Leader
Built and led a full-time team from scratch — replacing vendors, setting vision, and establishing a design culture that was trusted, strategic, and valued across the org.
Strategic Partner
Worked side-by-side with product and engineering to align roadmaps, reduce friction, and bring design into early planning — leading to stronger outcomes.
Hands-On Execution
Jumped in wherever needed — leading key UX efforts, shipping product improvements, and mentoring designers along the way.
What I Did
Built the In-House Team
Hired and led 8+ designers, built team rituals to drive visibility and ownership, and scaled a collaborative design culture across product teams.
Design Hub — centralized onboarding, research, and design rituals to streamline team collaboration and scale design ops.
Established a Research Practice from the Ground Up
Built a dedicated research function, secured access to multiple platforms, and created internal playbooks to support continuous discovery. Successfully advocated for its value to leadership and embedded research into team rituals.
Research Hub — built a centralized resource to guide teams through planning, conducting, and applying research across the product lifecycle.
Created a Scalable Design System
Created and launched a unified design system from scratch — aligning teams across brands with reusable components, shared patterns, and a consistent voice. Gradually transitioned legacy and acquired platforms into it, accelerating delivery and raising design quality.
Design System — unified teams with reusable components and patterns to scale design across legacy and new platforms.
Defined UX Strategy Across Product Lines
Led a cross-platform UX strategy to modernize legacy products and align fragmented experiences. Partnered with product and engineering to evaluate where updates would deliver the most value to users — balancing long-term vision with short-term feasibility across health, benefits, retirement, and wealth.
Strategic UX Alignment — defined a north star for experience modernization across product lines, balancing user impact with implementation cost.
Unified Acquired Platforms through Design
Led the UX side of integrating acquired platforms and rebranding efforts — transitioning legacy products from Millennium Trust to Inspira. Consolidated client experiences, aligned design systems, and supported the company's evolving product and brand strategy.
Rebranded Legacy Products — redesigned the UI to reflect Inspira’s updated brand identity, aligning voice, tone, and visual standards across platforms.
Brought Design into Agile Planning
Partnered with product leaders and LACE to embed design into sprint planning from the start — shaping roadmaps, refining backlogs, and influencing decisions earlier. Shifted perception of design from “make it look nice” to “make it work better” for users.
Rebranded Legacy Products — redesigned the UI to reflect Inspira’s updated brand identity, aligning voice, tone, and visual standards across platforms.
The Outcome
In 3 years we built a strong, strategic design org and solved problems that once held us back:
Scaled team to 8+ designers
Cut vendor costs, doubled speed
Created new design system
Scaled research to 20+ studies/year
Unified legacy tools into one vision
Brought UX in earlier to strategy
“The design team is kind of the model for how cross-functional teams should work.”
Bryan Levy
Managing Director,
Strategy & Products
© 2025 Bill Varga