Converge 2025: The Magic Moment in Design Systems: When Education Clicks - Ashley Zhu & Erin Potter

About the talk

If a design system requires mandates, adoption is already challenged. Too many design systems roll out with fanfare... and land with a thud. Endless documentation, repeated training, and communication channels flooded with the same five questions can become unsustainable. The result is a system people know about, but don’t truly know how to use.

This talk explores how education, when treated as a product in its own right, can drive trust, build confidence, and create lasting fluency. We’ll talk about designing training for that magic “click” moment, when people finally understand how the system works, why it matters, and when using a design system becomes instinctive. From meeting teams where they are, to weaving learning into daily workflows, to creating the muscle memory that turns first-time users into confident advocates, we’ll look at how to make both learning and training feel natural. When education clicks, the system becomes second nature: and that’s when adoption truly lifts off.

About the speaker

Ashley Zhu (she/her) is a Senior Product Designer and Education Lead for Capital One’s enterprise design system. She delights in making complex systems intuitive and creating welcoming learning experiences that turn first-time users into confident advocates. Outside of work, she finds joy in dreaming up new recipes in the kitchen, nature poetry, and dancing anywhere there’s music.

Erin Potter (she/her) is a Senior Manager and Experience Lead for Capital One’s enterprise design system. She leads a team designing and documenting componentry, educating users, and driving adoption of the system. She has spent time managing coalitions for design systems, establishing platform processes, and running a local system. When not daydreaming of component lifecycles, she fills her time with 2 teenagers, 2 meowzers, 1 patient husband and often going to see bands, binging the latest series, or weightlifting.