Shaping a Design Culture @ ArcelorMittal Systems
A strategic initiative that established the first UX Design team within the technology division of the world’s largest steel producer, introducing a new way of thinking about design in industrial contexts.
problem
As ArcelorMittal Sistemas expanded its role from providing IT support for corporate platforms - like SAP and Microsoft - to also developing in-house digital solutions for industrial operations, the organization faced a major gap: its applications were being designed without design. Engineers and programmers built functional systems and automations, but without UX expertise, the interfaces were inconsistent and confusing. The lack of user-centered design led to low adoption rates, inefficiency, and a growing demand for usability improvements across digital tools.
solution
To address this, I led the creation of the company’s first UX Design team, establishing a new operational framework for experience design within a highly technical environment. Using a DesignOps approach, I built foundational processes for research, prototyping, and validation, and introduced a scalable Design System to unify the interface language across industrial applications. By embedding UX into agile workflows and fostering a shared understanding of user value among developers and leaders, design evolved into a core principle shaping how digital products are conceived and delivered.
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With the advancement of digital transformation, especially after the pandemic, ArcelorMittal Sistemas’s role expanded: the team began developing its own automations and industrial applications, directly contributing to the digitalization of production processes.
However, these solutions were created by engineers and developers without formal design training — and therefore without considering usability, visual consistency, or user experience. As a result, the systems were often inefficient and difficult to use, leading to low adoption among users.
This scenario highlighted the need for a strategic repositioning: design had to be established as a core discipline within the IT operation, ensuring that digital solutions were not only functional but also meaningful and embraced by their users.
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