A five-month contract contributing to UX & UI design within internal collaboration tools at Apple. Because these are internal, proprietary systems, I'm not able to show screens, flows or name the specific products here — that's covered by Apple's privacy policy. What follows is an honest account of my role, approach and impact, without the specifics that would identify the tools themselves.
I joined the team on a five-month contract to contribute to UX and UI design across a collection of features for an internal collaboration tool used daily by employees. The brief started with a focus on one area, which led to an entire service redesign. The five-month period afforded me the opportunity to work closely with the teams relying on these tools, understand where the experience was falling short, and raise the bar across the board.
Emerging from feedback was the need for a more personalised experience that feels like an Apple product. Employees got the job done, but the experience often got in the way rather than helping.
I spent the first few weeks embedded within the product team — sitting in on workflows, gathering feedback directly from the employees who used these tools daily, and being exposed to the entire product end-to-end. I also was given the opportunity to design and create a solution for a sought-after feature within the main product early on. This has now been released to employees globally.
I was introduced to the engineering team, working closely to establish clearer design patterns and a more consistent visual language, prioritising the changes that would have the biggest impact on day-to-day usability. Every proposal was shaped around what was realistic to ship within our engineering constraints and limited resources, without clouding creativity and future thinking.
I contributed to the redesign of the entire service, creating key interaction patterns and interface components across the tools, whilst going above and beyond, moving them toward a more unified, modernised design language, with considerations across platforms, as well as accessibility. I also put together lightweight design documentation, so future changes made without a dedicated designer involved could stay visually and behaviourally consistent.
I loosely sketched ideas digitally using an iPad and Apple Pencil. I mainly used Sketch to create mid to high-fidelity design iterations, components and interactive prototypes.
I was afforded the opportunity to connect, as well as proactively arranging time with key stakeholders to showcase product changes and design thinking.
By the end of the contract, the tool felt noticeably more cohesive, and the team had a clearer design language to build on. Just as importantly, design was left in a stronger position within the tool — with feedback loops and documentation in place to help keep raising the bar after my contract ended. Many aspects have now shipped within the past year.
It was a genuinely rewarding project — improving tools that Apple's own employees rely on every day, even if the details have to stay behind closed doors. It was an absolute pleasure working with the teams, which I miss dearly.
With VP backing, I received a one-month extension owing to output quality, teamwork and the product's priority. Totalling six months.