Constellation is Zillow Group’s web design language & design system. I joined the Constellation Org in 2020 to lead the design and development of Constellation for Android & iOS, which we launched in early 2021.

Why Native Apps Matter at Zillow

Apps are where Zillow has the most engaged users, who are also generating most of the Agent-contact Submits (the main revenue driver for Zillow after the fall of Zillow Offers), while also being subjected to low quality and inaccessible web-view based experiences. I joined the Constellation org in mid-2020 and was tasked with building out a native design system so we could move beyond web views.

The most engaged users are on the apps

App users submit agent contact forms at a higher rate

App users are subjected to low quality “web-views” — “Ew, Web views!”

Library Structure & Mental Model

To reduce redundancies and create a single source of truth, both iOS and Android leverage a shared Visual Foundations Library for shared visual styles & tokens.

3 Figma Libraries

Visual Foundations

Also present in the Visual Foundations Library are definitions for Spacing, Elevation and Grid, along with brand logos.

Components

Platform Specific Components

iOS Component Samples

Android Component Examples

Resources

In addition to hosting weekly Native Apps office hours for the 150 person Zillow Design Org, I worked with the contributing engineers to develop demo apps to distribute throughout the org, and put together a lightweight documentation site using Google Sites.

So much went into this project, drop me a line if you’d like to know more!