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Roadmap

The Orbit rolls out in seven phases, each building on the last. The phases follow a deliberate order: brand assets first, then the token foundation, then components, then icons, then complex surfaces, then behaviour and language, and finally typography — which is deferred until font licensing and performance dependencies are resolved.

All phases and timelines require validation with engineering leads before commitment. "Planned" means the Design System Guild has agreed this will happen. "Under consideration" means the direction is agreed but scope and timing haven't been confirmed. If something here is blocking your work, raise it in #platform-design-system on Slack. The full implementation plan is on Confluence.

Complete

Brand Foundations

Introduce the new Open Point and Social Point brands through high-visibility, low-risk asset updates.

  • Open Point and Social Point logos and favicons refreshed
  • Navigation bar and footer brand marks updated
  • Login screen, outbound email templates, and connector branding updated
  • Suite palette introduced in controlled, non-UI-logic areas
  • Design principles and suite-first direction confirmed
  • Internal brand guidelines published

Complete (DES-360). Phase 1 covered brand assets only — no component redesign, layout changes, token implementation, or typography updates.

In Progress

Token System & Design System

Implement the agreed token set across Social Point and Open Point, establish DS governance, and launch Orbit.

  • Primitive colour tokens — 8 ramps × 11 steps (50–950) ✓
  • Semantic alias tokens — fully implemented ✓
  • Orbit site live with colour, spacing, radius, and accessibility foundations ✓
  • Figma Variable Mode strategy — locked before Phase 3 begins
  • Token Stability Gate — agreed subset of semantic tokens formally locked before any Phase 3 component work begins
  • Token spec in code (orbit-tokens.json) and Figma (Variable Modes configured)
  • DS governance model — contribution model, versioning, deprecation rules

Current phase. Colour, spacing, and radius foundations are complete. Token Stability Gate and Figma Variable Mode strategy are the critical Phase 3 prerequisites.

Planned

Shared Components

Introduce a shared set of core UI components across Social Point and Open Point using the token foundation from Phase 2.

  • Tier 1 — Button, Form Control, Input, Alert, Modal, Notification Modal, Tabs, Checkbox, Radio Button, Dropdown, Switch
  • Tier 2 — Multi-Select, Text Area, Search, Badge/BadgePriority, Tooltip, Accordion, Pagination, Progress Stepper, Table, Tag/Tag Group
  • Component parity map — current vs new implementation status across Open Point and Social Point
  • Migration guidance per component — token diff, behavioural diff, and migration notes
  • Incremental rollout to both products following the component priority order

Does not begin until the Token Stability Gate (Phase 2) is passed. Component work starts with Tier 1 only.

Planned

Icon System

Establish a unified icon system across Social Point and Open Point with consistent styling, sizing, semantics, and usage.

  • Shared suite icon set adopted — standardised style, weight, and sizing
  • Placement guidelines across components and surfaces
  • Decorative vs semantic usage rules and ARIA labelling guidance
  • Existing icon inventory audited across both products
  • Icon library v1.0 published in Orbit

Web Awesome's default icon set is used as a bridge during Phases 2 and 3. The unified suite icon set replaces it in Phase 4.

Under Consideration

Data-Heavy Surfaces

Align high-complexity, data-intensive surfaces across both products using the shared token and component foundations.

  • Tables and data grids (critical for Open Point SRM stakeholder management)
  • Dashboards and analytics surfaces
  • Mapping and geospatial patterns (critical for Social Point spatial engagement)
  • Participation tool interfaces — surveys, polls, idea boards, interactive maps
  • Multi-step and dense workflow patterns
  • Chart colour systems and data visualisation patterns
  • Loading, skeleton, and empty states for complex surfaces

Customer research findings are a formal dependency for this phase. WCAG 2.2 AA validation with assistive technology is required across all public-facing Social Point surfaces.

Under Consideration

Behaviour, Tone & Language

Align behavioural patterns, interaction language, and tonal consistency across Social Point and Open Point.

  • Interaction behaviour — hover, focus, active states; form submission; modal usage; loading and transitions
  • Tone and language — shared glossary, tone-of-voice guidance, microcopy standards
  • Defined variation: public-facing (community member) vs admin (professional user) contexts
  • Feedback and guidance patterns — inline vs global, severity mapping, contextual help
  • Behavioural pattern documentation and content standards published in Orbit
Under Consideration

Typography & Visual Refinement

Introduce the new suite typography and apply final visual refinements once all dependencies are resolved.

  • Font licensing confirmed for Memoir, ABC Otto, and ABC Social
  • Web font performance validated for both products (loading, rendering, fallback behaviour)
  • Accessibility review — contrast, legibility, and size across all type styles
  • Typeface hierarchy implemented: Memoir (statement/headline), ABC Otto (headers), ABC Social (body)
  • Final spacing, border radius, shadow, and motion adjustments
  • End-to-end consistency check across all high-traffic surfaces in both products

Typography rollout is explicitly deferred until font licensing, performance, and accessibility implications are fully resolved. All previous phases must be stable before this phase begins.