Audrey Hacq

OpenClassrooms

Community Champion

image for Audrey Hacq

Audrey Hacq

OpenClassrooms

Community Champion

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Experience

I’m Audrey Hacq, Product Design Director at OpenClassrooms, where I currently manage a team of 15 people. My journey in the Design System industry began in 2016 when I wrote my first article about Atomic Design after attending Brad Frost’s conference. It was a revelation to me as it made so much more sense than the traditional ‘page-based’ approach I was familiar with. Working with components and embracing Atomic Design naturally led me to explore Design Systems as a way to organize and utilize these components effectively. Motivated by the amazing potential of design systems, I knew I had to share my insights with the design community. I authored the article ‘Everything you need to know about Design Systems,’ which garnered significant attention with more than 73K views.

Since then, I have been actively involved in the Design System community, delivering numerous conferences and writing several articles on the subject. I have become a trusted expert, assisting various French companies, including Meetic, Molotov TV, Crédit Agricole, and Air France, Amadeus, in successfully implementing and maintaining their own Design Systems. From the beginning, my primary goal has always been to share my knowledge and provide practical tips to anyone interested in starting or advancing with Design Systems. I am passionate about empowering individuals and teams to harness the full potential of design systems in their work.

Impact on the community

The recognition of my experience within the design system community can be seen through the reach and impact of my contributions. My articles have garnered a significant number of views and shares across different countries, indicating their widespread readership and resonance. Notably, my articles have been translated in Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, and more. Recently, I received a request to have one of my articles translated into Russian! Additionally, my contributions have been acknowledged through features in prominent design publications or Podcasts. These opportunities have allowed me to reach a wider audience, share my insights, and contribute to the ongoing conversation surrounding design systems.

Contribution to the community

For the past 6 years, I have been actively involved in the design system community as an advocate. Through my work, I have written articles, spoken at conferences, and even authored a book in collaboration with Idean agency titled “Hack the Design System”. With a particular focus on the French version, I conducted interviews with numerous industry professionals to gain valuable insights into their practices and provide concrete advices to those looking to implement design systems within their organizations. In 2018, I joined the “Design System France” community alongside Marie-Aline Millot, where we organized workshops and conferences to foster knowledge sharing and collaboration. And to go even further, in 2020, I took part in organizing the very first “Design System Summit”’ in France, in partnership with Adobe and Idean. Even today, I continue to actively engage with the community. People frequently reach out to me on LinkedIn with their questions, and I find great joy in providing them with helpful answers and guidance.
Here is a summary of my contributions to the community: 

Articles (in english)

Webinar

Conferences (in French)

Book

Podcast

Interviews

Event organisation

Sharing to the community

In addition to everything I mentioned above, I had the opportunity to accompany many companies and designers on the Design System journey, not only through my talks or conferences. For example, this year I served as a Mentor in the “Hexagon UX” program, specifically in the “Design Systems” category. 

I have also provided guidance to numerous companies by conducting audits of their existing systems, assessing their maturity level, highlighting strengths and weaknesses in their organization, and helping them define their next steps. I also gave training at ECV digital, a French school on those topics.

Furthermore, I have facilitated practical workshops with various teams to assist them in prioritizing components, defining system guidelines, clarifying roles, and more. These workshops have been made available to a wider audience through my articles.

Value