Charles Rivers · via Nearform

Charles Rivers - Design System & Apollo

A multi-product design system for Charles Rivers, then proved in practice with Apollo, a data-dense lab-testing desktop application built on top of it.

New Design System Scalable patterns & components
Multi-Product One consistent foundation across the family
New Apollo Product A comprehensive lab-testing app

The Brief

Context

Charles Rivers had multiple products that needed to feel like one family. I developed a new design system to bring consistency across the initiative, then designed Apollo, a desktop lab-testing application, directly on top of it, both delivering a real product and proving the system in practice.

Read the detail

Responsibilities

Create a single design system across multiple products.
Design Apollo, a desktop lab-testing application, on that system.
Prove the system could carry a complex, data-dense product.

When several products grow in parallel without a shared system, they drift apart fast, and every team pays for it later. Building the system first meant consistency was designed in from the start rather than retrofitted. Lab-testing software lives or dies on precision and clarity: there's a lot of dense, structured information and no room for ambiguity. Designing Apollo on the shared system meant it gained consistency for free, while stress-testing whether the system could really carry a complex product.

Systems

Building the system

I led the design system as the foundation for the initiative, defining the components, patterns and visual language every product would share.

Built a reusable component library and patterns.
Defined a consistent visual language across products.
Designed the system to scale across the initiative.

Buttons and controls page, showing primary and secondary buttons, radio buttons, pills, status pills, selection fields, dropdowns, toggles, tab-filters and switches in every state — Pages from the design system documentation. Scroll each screen, or use the arrows to move between them.

Modals page, showing session timeout, change environment, cookies, contact expert and confirmation modal patterns — Pages from the design system documentation. Scroll each screen, or use the arrows to move between them.

Discovery

Understanding lab-testing workflows

With the system underway, I worked to understand the lab-testing workflows Apollo had to support, so its structure matched how the work actually gets done.

Mapped the core lab-testing workflows.
Identified the density and precision the UI had to handle.

Structure

Structuring a data-heavy tool

I shaped the information architecture and flows for Apollo, organising dense, data-rich screens so they stayed navigable rather than overwhelming.

Structured dense, data-rich screens for clarity.
Designed flows that fit real lab processes.

Craft

Apollo, lab testing app

I designed Apollo directly on the Charles Rivers design system, delivering a consistent, polished desktop UI while validating the system in a real, complex product.

Designed a desktop application UI on the shared system.
Kept dense, data-heavy screens clear and usable.
Proved the design system in practice.

Program Timeline screen, showing each study as a staged bar across a month-by-month axis with a marker for today — Key screens from Apollo, built on the design system. Use the arrows to move between them.

Studies grid view, showing filters for stage, molecule, species and preclinical alongside study cards with day-progress rings — Key screens from Apollo, built on the design system. Use the arrows to move between them.

Impact

Outcome

A consistent design system underpinning the Charles Rivers product family, and Apollo: a polished, data-dense desktop application that stood as living proof the system could carry a complex product.

A shared system across a multi-product initiative.
Consistency designed in from the start, inherited by everything built on it.
Apollo, a real-world validation of the system itself.