In the release 9.4 of GitLab we took a big step toward improving our navigation here at GitLab. We conducted several rounds of exploration and research, plus took an initial opt-in approach when we introduced this new feature. In this talk, we'll go in-depth about why this was necessary and how we came to this conclusion. We'll go over what lessons are learned and how we continue to improve.

After this, we'll go why it is so important to have a solid design language and system. What is our approach to taking on such a daunting task and how will our future goals benefit from this.

All of the topics above are told from the perspective of a fully remote design team working with open source software, including a wide community.