Object-Oriented Design in Digital Product Work

Experiment

I applied Object-Oriented Design Thinking (OODT): instead of designing pages, I defined objects with clear identity, state, and behavior.

• Donor Tile → summarized giving, expanded into detail, linked to new actions.
• Campaign Card → shifted state from active to archived to pledged.
• Insight Module → lived independently, but also assembled into reports.

By treating these as “design objects,” not just UI pieces, the system became modular and predictable.

Solution

Screens no longer had to be invented one by one. Instead, objects could be reused, recombined, and extended. This produced:

• Clarity for users (a Donor Tile behaves the same everywhere).
• Efficiency for design/dev teams (fewer screens to spec, easier scalability).
• Consistency for the business (a design language aligned with product strategy).

Impact

The portal transformed from a tangle of bespoke screens into a coherent system. Donors navigated data more intuitively, and the design team delivered faster iterations with less rework.

Object-Oriented Design wasn’t just a philosophy — it was a practical method for making complexity elegant.

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