PPL Electric · Fortune 500 Energy

Three utilities. Three ways of doing everything. One system to bring them together.

A Fortune 500 energy provider was consolidating three utility companies, each with its own systems, language and design standards. I helped design the shared components, copy patterns and governance that made one consistent customer experience possible.

Role
UX designer + copywriter
Engagement
Accenture consultant, embedded at PPL Electric Utilities
Timeline
6 months
Tools
Figma, Miro
Team
3 UX/UI designers, 2 copywriters
Enterprise UXDesign systemsUX writingGovernance
Account registration before and after: a dense legacy form compared with the redesigned Create online profile flow, with callouts for the stepper, plain-language copy and clean UI
Account registration, before and after: a stepper, plain-language copy and a cleaner UI.
01 — Context & challenge

One company on paper. Three experiences in practice.

The three utilities had operated as separate organizations, each with its own digital experiences, systems and workflows.

As they came together, customers risked an experience that felt inconsistent and confusing: different screens, different words, different rules.

How might we create standards that scale across three utilities and are easy for every team to adopt?

What the audit found

01Outdated interfacesslowed users down
02Inconsistent languagecreated uncertainty
03Different design systemsvaried across teams
04Little governanceand limited documentation
Audit map of the legacy new user registration flow, screen by screen, including the invalid credentials error state
Audit: mapping the legacy registration flow screen by screen, including its error states.
02 — My role & approach

Designing the screens and the words together.

  • Audited existing experiences for inconsistent UI patterns, terminology and workflow logic
  • Designed reusable components and redesigned MVP features
  • Wrote and standardized UX copy patterns for CTAs, errors, alerts and forms
  • Owned governance end to end: a live UX Writing Guideline and Content Library used by the UX/UI design team and the communications and marketing team
  1. 01AuditUI, terms, workflows
  2. 02PrinciplesClarity, guidance, accessibility
  3. 03Components100+ in Figma
  4. 04Copy patterns50+ standardized
  5. 05GovernanceGuidelines + content library

These weren't isolated UX issues. It was a problem of scale.

03 — Guiding principles

Three principles every team could follow.

01

Clarity

Plain, actionable words and a clear visual hierarchy, so customers always know what to do next.

02

Guidance

Step-by-step flows, steppers and progress cues that walk people through complex tasks.

03

Accessibility

Better contrast, spacing, type and labels, built into the components so every team gets it by default.

04 — Key design decisions

Two calls that put customers first.

How much should onboarding explain?

ChosenClear instructions at every stepEvery onboarding step says what to do, why it's needed and what comes next.
RejectedMinimal copy, let users figure it outCleaner on screen, but it leaves customers guessing on tasks like starting service.

The call: guidance is what makes a complex flow feel simple, and it became a reusable pattern every utility could share.

Whose language do we design in?

ChosenWords customers usePlain, everyday terms for every label, instruction and message.
RejectedInternal team terminologyFamiliar to the internal team, but unclear to customers, and different at each utility.

The call: one customer-first vocabulary, documented in the Content Library, so three utilities finally spoke the same language.

05 — The work

Shared components, shared language.

Landlord agreement before and after: one crowded legacy page compared with a four-step flow for agreement details, addresses, settings and confirmation
Landlord agreements: one crowded page became four guided steps, built from shared components.
Mobile Verify your account screen with a three-step stepper, verification method options and a Get verification code button

The same patterns, on every screen size.

  • Stepper: shows where you are and what's next
  • Plain instructions: every step explains what to do and why
  • Clear choices: simple options instead of dense forms
06 — Outcome & impact

A single source of truth for three utilities.

01 / 03100+

reusable Figma components, with rules for how they behave across utilities

02 / 0350+

UX copy patterns standardized in a UX Writing Guideline and Content Library

03 / 0310+

MVP features redesigned to be more intuitive

Reflection
"Consistency at scale isn't a UI kit. It's shared patterns, shared language and the governance that keeps teams using them."