Providing UX design consultancy for a leading music institution

A leading college of music and performing arts in the US hired us as expert UI & UX consultants to audit their online learning platform and establish a design system.

Two presentations slides on top of each other. The top one showing design elements from typeface and colors to buttons and toggles.

Goal

Our client wanted to create an online user experience that reflects their prestige as a preeminent institution for the study of music, dance, and theater.

Challenge

Over the years, their digital learning platform had evolved with a wide range of features and visual styles, creating both opportunities and complexity.

The client’s design team had already begun redesigning the platform and invited us to provide an external perspective, helping validate their direction and uncover new opportunities for improvement.

We joined their design team as consultants to synthesize findings, prioritize fixes, and set the foundations of a premium design system.

Outcome

Instead of following a one-size-fits-all design system process, we tailored our method to meet the platform’s unique challenges.

Our flexible approach helped build a design system that would stand the test of time and make future fixes faster and easier.

By adapting our methodology to the realities of the platform and client needs, we were able to deliver impactful improvements in a short period of time.

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UX audit & expert insights

The consultancy began with a structured UX and UI audit involving multiple reviewers to uncover foundational issues, such as: 

Inconsistent UI components and visual styles
Confusing navigation, user flows and structural UX issues
Overlapping functionalities

Screenshots from the report of the expert review.

One detail from the report we compiled following the expert reviews

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Design system audit & component rework

The next step focused on strengthening the platform’s design foundation by creating a maintainable design system.

Our UX consultants cataloged all existing colors, components, fonts, and styles from the live product using atomic design principles.
We documented problematic patterns with best-practice guidance and "Do & Don’t" examples taken from the platform itself.
We created a structured database with screenshots, usage context, and notes on component quality or issues.
We rebuilt key UI elements for better consistency, accessibility, and flexibility.

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Strategy & design

Beyond cleaning up UI, our consultant delivered strategic guidance to improve both design quality and long-term scalability. 

This included:

Establishing a design system in Figma, including design token design, redesign and preparation; typography styles; and naming conventions.
Improved accessibility by improving color contrast, adding focus states, and preparing components to meet minimum accessibility standards.
Reviewed early-stage redesign screens, offering targeted feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Provided architecture-level suggestions for long-term success.