Google - Denis Sazhin (original) (raw)

Project

Google Mastery – Visual Systems Ownership.

Overview

At Google, I served as the creative lead for visual design across the Mastery learning platform — an internal ecosystem supporting education, training, and communication for global teams. This wasn’t a one-off project; it was an ongoing system of high-volume design needs flowing through a complex pipeline.

Problem

The platform faced recurring issues with inconsistent visuals, fragmented styles, and inefficient creative processes. Incoming design requests were high-volume, varied in scope, and lacked clear structure — leading to duplication, visual noise, and production slowdowns.

Role and Contribution

Owned the visual system across the platform, driving consistency and clarity
Created iconography, spot illustrations, banners, and motion assets to support a wide range of educational content
Built and maintained visual libraries and templates for scalable reuse
Collaborated with UX, instructional design, engineering, and content teams to integrate design seamlessly into real-time workflows
Developed guidelines and standards to reduce friction and empower contributors across teams

Process

Assessed and organized existing assets to identify inconsistencies and gaps
Designed reusable visual systems using Figma and Illustrator, balancing utility with brand integrity
Managed a continuous pipeline of design needs — from quick-turn tasks to conceptual visual planning
Acted as a visual systems advisor, helping teams adapt and scale the framework as new content types emerged

Outcome:

Brought structure and clarity to a fragmented system of design requests
Enabled faster, more cohesive visual output across multiple teams
Established a living design system that continues to scale with the platform’s needs
Elevated internal understanding of visual consistency and design process through guidance and collaboration