Design system that helps teams move faster together

How a design system brought clarity, consistency, and speed to our work

Design systems have been at the center of some of my most meaningful work. I have learned that they are not simply libraries of buttons and colors, but living frameworks that create clarity, consistency, and speed across products. At their best, design systems empower teams to collaborate with confidence and focus on solving bigger problems.

Industry leaders such as Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines show how powerful this clarity can be. Apple’s guidance has long been a standard for consistency, accessibility, and user trust, proving that thoughtful systems can scale across complex products while still feeling intuitive and human.

At one stage in my career, I built and scaled a design system that became a foundation for multiple teams. That experience gave me mastery of the craft, not just in defining components but in creating tools, workflows, and relationships that allowed people to ship faster and better together. Figma played a central role in this journey. It was not only a canvas for design but also a collaborative space where designers, engineers, and product managers could align in real time.

Why design systems matter

Every team knows the pain of inconsistency. A button behaves differently on one page than another. Headings use slightly different sizes. Spacing feels off. Alone, these seem like small issues. But over time, they slow teams down, confuse users, and erode trust.

A design system solves this by creating a single source of truth. It is not only a library of components but also a shared language. Google’s Material Design is a good example. It is not just a collection of patterns but a framework that helps teams move with confidence at scale. The result is not only visual polish but also efficiency, scalability, and a higher baseline of quality.

When we introduced our system, the goal was not to impose rules but to build trust. Teams wanted to move faster, reduce rework, and deliver consistent value to users. A strong system made that possible, because it gave everyone the confidence that the basics were already handled.

Starting with clarity

When I began scaling our design system, my first goal was not to create the most comprehensive library. It was to create clarity. That meant documenting existing components, naming them consistently, and making sure designers and engineers could find what they needed.

Figma was the tool that made this clarity tangible. Instead of scattered files or outdated PDFs, we created a shared workspace that everyone could access. Components were organized, labeled, and versioned. Designers knew where to look, engineers knew what was stable, and product managers could preview flows without needing extra handoffs.

We created guidelines that were simple, clear, and accessible. Instead of long documents no one would read, we produced concise references and examples. The aim was always the same: reduce confusion and save time. Atlassian’s Design System was a useful inspiration here, with its emphasis on practical guidelines over heavy documentation.

Clarity was not about doing everything at once. It was about making sure the first step into the system felt easy and intuitive. When teams could quickly find what they needed, adoption grew naturally.

Building for consistency

Once clarity was established, the next step was consistency. That meant aligning across products and teams. In practice, this involved three focus areas:

• Unifying typography, spacing, and color usage

• Standardizing components like buttons, forms, and navigation

• Ensuring accessibility standards were baked into every component

Consistency is not about removing creativity. It is about creating a stable foundation so that creativity can focus on solving bigger problems. Salesforce’s Lightning Design System demonstrates this well. It provides reusable building blocks that speed up delivery while maintaining product harmony.

In Figma, consistency came from shared libraries. We built a central library of components that every team could pull from. Designers no longer recreated patterns from memory. Engineers no longer wondered if a button was correct. The system answered these questions before they became blockers.

The impact was immediate. Visual alignment improved, users saw more cohesive products, and teams felt less friction. Consistency gave everyone the sense that they were building together, not in silos.

Designing for speed

The true power of a design system is the speed it enables. At scale, every repeated decision costs time. A strong system removes repetitive decisions by making the right choice obvious.

By the time our system matured, new designers could start contributing on day one. Engineers could implement features without waiting for detailed specs. Product managers could preview flows with confidence that they reflected the right patterns. The system became a multiplier, accelerating output across the organization.

In our case, speed was most visible during handoffs. Before the system, handoffs often involved clarification meetings, mockups, and back-and-forth over spacing or alignment. With the system, handoffs became seamless. Designers pointed to Figma libraries, engineers built with confidence, and QA verified patterns automatically. What once took days now happened in hours.

Collaboration across teams

Scaling a design system is never the work of one person. I collaborated closely with engineers to ensure components were technically feasible and easy to integrate. I worked with product managers to prioritize what mattered most for shipping. I partnered with QA to make sure patterns worked reliably in production.

The system succeeded because it belonged to everyone. Designers created, engineers implemented, and product managers championed adoption. My role was to guide, align, and make sure the system served real needs.

Figma made this collaboration visible. Instead of passing files back and forth, teams worked in the same space. Comments, feedback, and iterations happened in real time. This transparency reduced misunderstandings and made adoption feel natural.

The human side of systems

One lesson I learned is that systems are as much about people as they are about components. Adoption only happens when people trust the system. That trust comes from listening, iterating, and showing that the system makes work easier.

We held regular feedback sessions, celebrated wins where the system saved time, and made adjustments based on real-world use. Over time, teams began to see the system not as a set of rules but as a resource they had shaped themselves. This echoes the perspective of Nathan Curtis, who reminds us that design systems succeed through relationships as much as through libraries.

The most important shift was cultural. Once teams saw the system as theirs, not mine, momentum built naturally. Designers contributed improvements, engineers refined details, and managers encouraged adoption. The system grew because people believed in it.

Measuring the impact

The success of a design system is not measured by how many components it has. It is measured by outcomes. In our case, we saw faster shipping cycles with fewer mismatches, higher consistency across products, improved onboarding for new hires, and stronger collaboration across functions.

The most meaningful impact was not only efficiency but confidence. Teams felt empowered to move quickly because they knew the foundation was strong.

Scaling beyond a single product

As the system matured, it expanded across products. What started as a tool for one product line became a foundation for the entire organization. Each new product launched faster because the system provided a ready-made framework.

This scaling reinforced one of the most important lessons: a design system is not just a set of components, it is an ecosystem. It grows with the organization. It adapts to new challenges. It becomes part of the culture.

Reflections

Looking back, I see mastery of design systems as less about control and more about empowerment. It is about creating a framework that is strong enough to provide consistency, but flexible enough to let teams explore and innovate. It is about making sure progress feels seamless, adoption feels natural, and the system belongs to everyone.

For me, design systems are one of the clearest examples of how IC work can scale impact. A well-crafted system extends beyond any single project. It becomes part of the organization’s culture, helping teams move with clarity and confidence. That, to me, is the quiet power of design systems, and why I chose to make them a central part of my craft.