Design system overhaul

Overview

The existing product had grown organically over four years, resulting in 14 different button styles, inconsistent spacing, and no shared design language across teams. This project established a unified design system serving three product teams.

Challenge

Each product team had developed their own patterns independently. Developers were frustrated by duplicated components. Designers spent more time recreating existing patterns than solving new problems. Onboarding new team members took weeks.

Process

An audit catalogued every unique component across all products — 347 components, of which only 89 were truly unique. Stakeholder workshops aligned teams on shared principles. A token-first approach ensured consistency at the foundational level.

Solution

The new system provides 52 core components built on a shared token layer. Each component ships with usage guidelines, accessibility annotations, and code examples. A contribution model allows teams to extend the system while maintaining quality.

Results

Design-to-development handoff time decreased by 60%. Component reuse increased from 23% to 81%. New designer onboarding dropped from three weeks to four days. The system now serves as the single source of truth for all product teams.