HEAD OF PRODUCT DESIGN & UX
Scaling Design at Grouper: Leading a Rebrand & Building a Unified Design System
As Grouper evolved from Element3 Health, the company needed a stronger, more cohesive brand identity and a scalable design system to support its growth. The existing platform had inconsistent branding, accessibility gaps, and disjointed UI patterns, making it difficult to scale efficiently. With a lean design team and external agency support, I led the effort to redefine Grouper’s brand, build a unified design system, and improve usability across the platform.
The Business Challenge: Aligning Brand, UX, and Accessibility for Growth
Grouper (formerly Element3 Health) aimed to connect seniors with social and wellness activities as part of their Medicare benefits. However, the E3H platform was outdated, difficult to navigate, and failing to retain users. As the company evolved, it needed a stronger, more cohesive brand identity and a scalable design system to support its growth.
With a lean team of one full-time designer, a part-time contractor, and a hybrid engineer/designer, I knew that success would depend on empowering my team while stepping in hands-on when needed. I provided strategic direction, mentorship, and problem-solving support, while also rolling up my sleeves to execute key components of the design system and brand refresh.
GOALS
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Establish a strong, unified brand identity that reflects Grouper’s evolution while ensuring consistency across product, marketing, and external communications.
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Develop a scalable design system with reusable UI components, WCAG-compliant accessibility standards, and clear design guidelines to streamline development and improve user experience.
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Enable faster product iterations and long-term scalability by ensuring the design system supports future platform expansions and adapts seamlessly to new product offerings.
My Leadership Strategy
Scaling Design by Empowering a Lean Team
SETTING A CLEAR PRODUCT VISION
By defining brand principles, design goals, and success metrics to keep the team aligned.
CREATING SPACE FOR CREATIVITY
By mentoring & guiding designers, while giving them ownership over key branding decisions.
ENSURING CROSS-TEAM COLLABORATION
By working closely with marketing, product, & engineering to ensure a seamless transition.
Building a Scalable, Accessible Design System
Standardizing ui components
By leading the creation of a Figma-based design system for consistency.
prioritizing accessibility
By working hands-on with the team to apply WCAG standards, improving usability.
driving adoption across teams
By documenting design system guidelines & streamling implementation with engineering.
Execution: Overcoming Key branding & Design System Implementation challenges
As Grouper (formerly Element3 Health) evolved, the company required a stronger, more cohesive brand identity and a scalable design system to support its growth. The existing platform suffered from inconsistent branding, accessibility gaps, and fragmented UI patterns, making it difficult to scale efficiently.
Fragmented Visual Identity
The brand lacked cohesion across product, marketing, and external materials.
In collaboration with an outside agency, I guided my team in developing a unified brand system, aligning UI, typography, and marketing assets under a cohesive design language.
solution
With an outside agency leading the corporate rebrand and a lean internal team consisting of one full-time designer, a part-time contractor, and a hybrid engineer/designer, I focused on bridging the gap between brand and product.
Success hinged on seamless collaboration, clear strategic direction, and hands-on execution. I empowered my team to take ownership of key initiatives while stepping in where needed to ensure consistency, solve complex UX challenges, and implement a design system that aligned with the new brand identity.
The Element3 Health platform before the rebrand to Grouper.
Click image to expand.
From Element3 Health to Grouper
In less than six months, Element3 Health underwent a complete transformation—a new CEO stepped in, a new executive team was assembled, and leadership hired an external agency to rename and rebrand the company as Grouper.
This rapid evolution introduced both opportunities and challenges—while the rebrand created momentum for a fresh market positioning, it also required quick adaptation, cross-team alignment, and a strategic approach to integrating the new brand into the product experience.
No Scalable Design System
Inconsistent UI components slowed development and created inefficiencies.
The rebrand created the perfect opportunity to establish a scalable design system. I led my team in developing a centralized Figma component library, leveraging Material Design principles to streamline workflows and accelerate product development.
solution
The Grouper UI kit component library in Figma. Click images to expand.
Accessibility Gaps
The platform lacked optimization for older users, leading to usability challenges.
I worked closely with my team to audit and refine contrast, typography, and navigation, going beyond AA WCAG compliance to better serve our senior users, many of whom have visual impairments or low vision.
solution
Report from a Vision Impairment Test conducted with the Accessibility Simulator Figma plugin.
The final design enhancements not only met WCAG AA standards but also achieved AAA contrast ratings across most design system components—the highest level of compliance, ensuring optimal accessibility for elder users and those with visual impairments.
Lack of a Centralized Group Directory
Members had difficulty discovering and joining activities, limiting platform engagement.
solution
Developed a comprehensive group directory using the new design system, incorporating search and filtering features to help seniors easily discover relevant social and wellness activities.
Business & Team Impact: A UX-Driven Turnaround
By redesigning Grouper’s platform with accessibility, usability, and operational efficiency in mind, we significantly improved user adoption and B2B engagement—laying the foundation for long-term platform success.
key outcomes
Reduced design & development time by standardizing components and workflows across teams.
Strengthened brand consistency by aligning product, marketing, and external assets under a unified system.
Built a foundation for long-term growth, ensuring the design system could evolve with the company’s expanding product offerings.
Improved accessibility with WCAG-compliant UI updates, enhancing usability for elder users and Medicare partners.
increased
membership
by improving
onboarding
& enrollment
workflows.
Increased b2b
retention by 25%
by implementing
an easy-to-use
club directory
my leadership Impact
Led collaboration
across Product,
Engineering, and
Medicare Partnerships to
align UX improvements
with business
and operational goals.
Designed a
structured group
directory to
improve discoverability
of social and wellness
activities, increasing
platform participation.
Elevated Grouper’s
visual identity
and product experience,
ensuring consistency,
usability, and
long-term scalability
in the healthcare
SaaS market.
Spearheaded a
company-wide
UX transformation
with a lean design team
and external agency support,
improving engagement
and retention.
Developed a scalable,
WCAG-compliant
design system
with high-contrast UI,
larger typography,
and simplified navigation
for senior users.
Leadership Reflections
This project reinforced the importance of both strategic leadership and hands-on execution. My role was to set the vision, remove roadblocks, and guide my team, but also to step in where needed to ensure quality and efficiency.
key leadership takeaways
A design system isn’t just a toolkit—it’s a long-term investment. Standardizing UI components led to faster development and stronger design consistency.
Accessibility should never be an afterthought. Designing for elder users & WCAG compliance made the platform more inclusive and usable for all.
Empowered teams create the best work. By fostering a culture of collaboration and ownership, I ensured that my team felt invested in the outcome, rather than just executing a directive.
By leading this rebrand and design system effort, we ensured Grouper has the design foundation to scale efficiently, enhance user experience, and support long-term business growth.