The problem
Design systems that weren't 'system-ing
Rose Rocket's design system existed, but it wasn’t functioning as a system—components were inconsistently used, parity with development was unclear, and adoption was hindered by a lack of visibility and shared standards.
Re-inventing patterns
Feature teams re-inventing patterns instead of building on shared foundations, leading to product inconsistencies and slower design time
No source of truth
No centralized source of truth or common language between design and development
Slow design execution
Slowdowns in design execution due to missing / outdated components or the need to re-build / re-invent core design layouts each time
Product inconsistency
Inconsistencies across the product created fragmented user experiences due to no source of truth between design and development
The SOLUTION
What I Led & Built
To help scale design quality across the Rose Rocket platform, I led key initiatives to make our design system more adoptable and maintainable—from refactoring components and introducing tokens, to building reusable UI kits and templates, improving design–dev alignment, and advocating for system usage through documentation and team-wide rituals:
Design System Foundations: Zinnia
Maintained and evolved Rose Rocket's Figma component library, introducing:
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Design tokens / variables for colour, spacing, and typography, etc.
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Created new components like Tooltips
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Documentation embedded in Figma for clear usage guidance
Zinnia: Input documentation and properties
UI Kits & Platform Patterns
Created UI Kits that reflect Rose Rocket’s key layout paradigms. These kits became the foundation for shipping fast, consistent, and polished UIs:
3 core layouts:
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Board layout (e.g., table view layout)
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Records layout (e.g., 3 panel page in modal view, side view, and full screen view)
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Widgets (Custom UI blocks that represent core actions)
Impact:
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Single source of truth: Easily identify the most up to date and accurate designs, communicate changes at the source of truth, and make it easier to keep essential experiences consistent across the entire product
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Speed / scalability: Instead of having to find and rebuild certain pages, they are usable as a template
Example of a Board Layout: Documentation and properties
Workflow Templates
Built reusable templates for core logistics workflows like:
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Orders (e.g., Orders board, orders record, order widgets)
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Manifests
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Customers
Impact:
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Enabled designers to build realistic prototypes in seconds—cutting down data setup time from 30 minutes to near-instant
Example of an Order type template
Power Hour (Team Ritual)
Introduced and facilitated Power Hour, a weekly timebox for designers to improve internal tooling (e.g., update Figma libraries, align on patterns, file bugs).
I also created a reusable structure and facilitation template, so any designer on the team could take ownership of a session and drive forward an initiative they cared about—turning it into a scalable, shared practice.
I also created a reusable structure and facilitation template, so any designer on the team could take ownership of a session and drive forward an initiative they cared about—turning it into a scalable, shared practice.
Example Power hour session: Building UI Kit & templates
Collaboration & Governance
Collaboration:
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Partnered closely with engineers to ensure design system components were implemented accurately and efficiently
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Established flexible guidelines for contribution and iteration, ensuring consistency without blocking innovation
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Acted as a design systems coach, helping designers and engineers adopt system tools, share feedback, and build on consistent patterns
New initiatives:
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Created a Design <> Developer kick-off session to introduce developers to the design team, our Design system, how we hand-off designs in Figma which helped build relationships and trust between the teams, create a shared sense of ownership, and drive system adoption
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Maintained a shared component status database (linked to Bit.dev) to improve visibility into design–dev parity
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Led two company-wide presentations to increase visibility into Zinnia, introduce the value and usage of design tokens and variables, and demonstrate how to use our UI kits and templates to design faster and more effectively
Left: Company-wide Systems presentation, Right: Design <> Dev Kick-off
Component Library Tracking Database
THE OUTCOME
A Transformed System
These efforts transformed Zinnia into a source of truth that improved alignment, boosted delivery speed, and helped product teams ship higher-quality experiences with less overhead and more confidence:
Improved velocity and consistency across all product teams
Reduced redundant pattern creation through increased UI Kit adoption
Enabled faster ramp-up for new designers via templates and documentation
Closed the design–dev parity gap through shared tools and status tracking
MY LEARNINGS
Scaling Design Together
A great design system isn’t just about components—it’s about creating the rituals, tools, and trust that help teams scale design excellence together.
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A great design system balances governance and flexibility—it should scale gracefully without becoming overly rigid
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Adoption is a product problem—I treated our system like a product, with rituals, education, and iteration baked in
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The best systems aren’t just reusable—they’re understandable, discoverable, and reliable
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Working on systems is fun and impactful
