Building a Scalable Design System

Project Type: Enterprise Design System
Role: UX Director / Lead Designer
Timeline: 6 months
Platform: Web and Mobile Applications

Overview

Our company was facing inconsistencies across multiple products and platforms. Components looked different, interaction patterns were inconsistent, and onboarding new designers was slow. The goal was to create a unified design system that would improve design quality, consistency, and team efficiency across web and mobile platforms.

Problem Statement

• Inconsistent UI components across multiple applications led to high rework and slowed development.

• Design teams were duplicating effort creating similar components for different products.

• New designers had a steep onboarding curve due to lack of standardized design patterns.

• Engineering struggled with unclear specifications and inconsistent interactions.

Goal: Build a scalable, maintainable, and accessible design system to reduce inconsistencies, speed up delivery, and improve cross-team collaboration.

Research & Discovery

Methods Used:

• UI Audit: Reviewed 5 products across web and mobile to identify component variations, visual inconsistencies, and interaction patterns.

• Stakeholder Interviews: Engaged Product Managers, Engineers, and Designers to understand pain points and system needs.

• User Research: Tested the usability of existing components to identify patterns causing confusion or errors.

• Competitive Analysis: Studied best practices in design systems from leading tech companies.

Key Insights:

1. Buttons, forms, and navigation elements varied in style and behavior across products.

2. Developers were often building components from scratch due to lack of reusable patterns.

3. Designers spent 30–40% of their time recreating or adjusting components.

4. Accessibility compliance was inconsistent across products.

Ideation & Strategy

• Component Prioritization: Ranked components by usage frequency and business impact. Buttons, inputs, and cards were the first to standardize.

• Token System: Defined colors, typography, spacing, and iconography as design tokens to ensure consistency across platforms.

• Governance Model: Created a system for updates, versioning, and cross-team approvals.

• Documentation: Planned a living documentation site with usage guidelines, code snippets, and design rationale.

Design & Iteration

Wireframes and Mockups:

• Created low-fidelity mockups of core components to explore layouts and states.

• Tested variations with internal teams for feedback on clarity, usability, and consistency.

Prototypes & Testing:

• Developed an interactive prototype of components in Figma, allowing designers and engineers to see behavior across web and mobile.

• Conducted usability testing for new components, focusing on clarity, accessibility, and interaction patterns.

Key Decisions:

• Standardized button sizes, padding, and typography to reduce variation.

• Reduced unnecessary component variations to streamline design and code.

• Introduced hidden layers and modular states to allow flexibility without complexity.

• Added AI-assisted recommendations for component usage in future projects.

Implementation

• Collaboration with Engineering: Components were built as shared React and iOS/Android libraries, linked to design tokens.

• Jira Integration: Each component had a story tracking design, dev implementation, and QA.

• Documentation Portal: Centralized repository for designers and developers with interactive examples, code snippets, and accessibility notes.

Artifacts / Deliverables

• UI Audit Report: Highlighted inconsistencies and opportunities.

• Component Library: Buttons, forms, cards, modals, navigation elements.

• Design Tokens: Color, typography, spacing, icons.

• Documentation Site: Living repository with design rationale and code snippets.

• Prototypes: Interactive, cross-platform component prototypes.

• Design Guidelines: Standards for visual, interaction, and accessibility compliance.

Outcomes & Impact

• Reduced Design Rework: 35% less time spent recreating components.

• Faster Onboarding: New designers onboarded in 50% less time.

• Consistency: UI audit showed 90% reduction in visual and interaction inconsistencies.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Engineering adoption improved, with fewer back-and-forths in reviews.

• Accessibility: All core components met WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

Reflection / Learnings

• Prioritizing core, high-impact components first made adoption easier.

• Clear documentation and governance were crucial for long-term scalability.

• Collaborative design with engineering reduced friction and improved quality.

• Integrating AI recommendations into design workflows improved component reuse and decision-making.

Visuals / Work Samples (Portfolio Thumbnails)

1. Component Audit Visuals – showing variations across products.

2. Design Tokens – color palette, typography, and spacing guides.

3. Wireframes & Mockups – examples of low and high-fidelity designs.

4. Interactive Prototype – buttons, forms, and cards in Figma.

5. Documentation Screenshots – guidelines and code snippets.

Takeaway Statement for Portfolio:

By creating a scalable design system, I helped unify visual and interaction patterns across multiple products, reduce design rework, accelerate onboarding, and establish a foundation for consistent, accessible, and high-quality user experiences.

Work