The Nest
Canada Life's design system
Role
Design Lead /
UX Manager
Dates
2023 - Present
I lead The Nest, the design system behind Canada Life's digital products. My job is to make the right thing the easy thing for every designer and engineer who builds on it.
A lifeline to building digital experiences at Canada Life.
9
1
10
160+
Reusable module experiences
Unique components
Documentation site
Figma libraries
Key areas of work:
Champion the design system through guidance, advocacy, and stakeholder reviews.
Design for inclusive and accessible experiences.
Explore all scenarios and edge cases, amongst technology specifications and constraints.
Clear and concise design system documentation.
Ongoing maintenance of libraries, patterns, and guidelines in Figma.
Support
Weekly Design Office Hours.
Support, mentor and provide feedback on work from a variety of initiatives within the organization.
Provide guidelines for designers, with job-aids and templates for quick starts and ease of use.
Collaborative working sessions.
Present opportunities for up-skilling and team learning.
Nest timeline
Strengthening of system with addition of modules & patterns
2025-2026
Migration of documentation from InVision DSM to Zeroheight
2024
Migration of all libraries from Sketch to Figma
2023
Implementation of Mobile Design System
2022
Migration of system to InVision DSM (from internally hosted site)
2020
Design System launched
2019
Team feedback
“Very knowledgeable, really good energy, has high aptitude and skill for high-quality design craft, and is a great collaborator.”
— Deb Hazlewood, Director, User Experience at Canada Life
“Sasha always considers the user while creating thoughtful, accessible design solutions. She is fast and thorough and if she doesn't have an answer, she will work to find one.”
— Starla Benson, Manager Visual User Interface Design at Canada Life
Multi-platform support
Figma libraries
Storybook library
Salesforce library
Zeroheight documentation