Date pickers seem simple, but they're not. Ours had long been a point of friction for users — outdated styling, clunky behavior, and limited flexibility. With 166 instances across the product, reimagining the experience was both high-impact and high-stakes.
The goal was to replace an outdated third-party date picker with a custom component that was visually aligned with our brand, faster and more intuitive to use, and fully accessible.
This needed to serve both everyday users and power users like accountants who work with dates constantly — getting it right meant reducing friction across the entire product.
Audited the existing component against industry design systems, identifying pain points in format handling, navigation friction, and accessibility gaps.
Collaborated with design system engineers and designers to develop solutions addressing both UI and systems-level challenges.
Validated concerns through structured testing with real users. Beta feedback confirmed the component was 'cleaner,' 'faster,' and easier to navigate.
Released the component in the UI kit and published comprehensive guidelines covering accessibility and formatting on FreeStyle.
Consistent, on-brand date selection across all 166 instances — bringing the component in line with the rest of the product.
Complete keyboard navigation and screen reader support delivered for the first time, meeting accessibility standards across the product.
Reduced interaction time for long-range date selections — particularly valuable for accountants and power users.
Forgiving text input accepted multiple formats, removing a significant source of user error and frustration.