Julia
Julia
Lubarsky
Lubarsky
Overview
An extension of the core Carbon Design System, designed to give a visually and behaviorally distinct identity to AI instances across all IBM products.
Role
Date range
Project Link
How do you build one unified foundation for AI experiences when a company the size of IBM is racing ahead without one?
The challenge
In 2023, as AI adoption surged, dozens of IBM teams were racing to build new AI features in parallel.
Without shared guidelines, IBM's portfolio started to feel fragmented, inconsistent, and confusing to users.
There was no precedent for building an AI-specific design system at this scale, so we were charting new territory with no model to follow. And the clock was ticking.
The solution
Carbon for AI
A set of visual and behavioral patterns any team could adopt quickly, paired with clear guidance on designing for AI. In practice, it was a brand new design language.
Designed to stand out from the core Carbon Design System and with explainability at the core, it set a standard for AI transparency across the board.
Approach
To build the first release of Carbon for AI we established a radical model of co-creation: creating a space where teams across siloes shared openly, working daily with 10 diverse product teams.
We sourced patterns directly from their use cases and tested ours with them, enabling immediate feedback and real-time iteration. This tight, collaborative process kept everyone engaged and ensured the system reflected real product needs.
My role
As UX Lead I shaped the core user experience for the system. My contributions focused on three areas:
1 - Designing reusable components and patterns that product teams could immediately apply.
2 - Writing UX guidelines to teach IBM designers how to approach building AI experiences responsibly.
3 - Coaching product teams across the portfolio, guiding them in how to design for AI.
Key features:
Outcomes
IBM’s first unified identity and component system for AI, built into the Carbon Design System.
Launched 10 new generative AI products and features using Carbon for AI at THINK 2024.
Gave thousands of designers a shared foundation to build AI experiences responsibly and consistently.
Enabled teams to move faster and eliminated thousands of hours of duplicative work.
Created a system that was extensible, laying the groundwork for future expansions like Chat and the Agentic Kit.
Won several international design awards including:
Red Dot Award
iF Award
AI Excellence Award
IBM Software teams celebrating our iF Award wins in Berlin
