DRCS

DRCS is an internal tool used by Kimberly-Clark’s Research & Engineering team to store, review, and manage technical drawings. For decades, it had been the backbone of how designs were approved and versioned—but it was showing its age.

I joined the project during research, design, and early development, helping rethink how a deeply legacy system could evolve to meet modern needs.

The problem

The existing DRCS system was over 30 years old. While it still technically worked, it no longer supported everything the team needed to do. The interface was slow, confusing, and built around outdated assumptions about how people work.

Engineers used it to upload drawings, annotate them, and approve or reject versions—but basic tasks felt harder than they should. Navigation was clunky, workflows were rigid, and the system didn’t match how teams actually collaborated anymore.

The risk was growing: if the tool didn’t evolve, it would eventually slow innovation instead of supporting it.

Research and discovery

We started by talking directly to the people who used DRCS every day. Through stakeholder and user interviews, we mapped out how the current system fit into their real workflows—not just how it was supposed to work, but how it actually did.

We focused on:

This gave us a clear picture of what to preserve and what to rethink.

Redesigning a legacy system

Instead of layering new features on top of old structure, we treated this as a true redesign. The goal was to respect what worked while fixing what didn’t.

We focused on:

Every design decision tied back to real user behavior from research—not assumptions about what engineers “should” want.

My role

I worked on research synthesis, UX design, and early frontend development. I helped translate messy, complex workflows into clear interfaces and supported the transition from concept to working product.

This meant balancing user needs with technical constraints—modernizing the experience without breaking the systems that depended on it.

Early feedback

DRCS has just launched, so we don’t yet have long-term metrics. But during testing, feedback was consistently positive. Users told us it felt faster, clearer, and easier to learn than the old system. Many said they could finally understand what was happening in the system without relying on memory or training.

For a tool that had been unchanged for decades, even that reaction mattered. It showed that thoughtful UX could make a highly technical, deeply ingrained system feel human again.

Reflection

This project reminded me that some of the most important design work isn’t flashy. It’s about quietly removing friction from tools people rely on every day.

Redesigning DRCS wasn’t about novelty—it was about respect: for users’ time, for their expertise, and for the work they do. Even without big metrics yet, the early response confirmed what I believe: when you listen carefully and design with intention, even a 30-year-old system can feel new again.