In close collaboration with the front-end team, Justin created a comprehensive design system for a fast-growing video tech startup, enabling scalable design and development across its platform. By establishing a unified design language and reusable components, the team saw a massive jump in productivity, consistency, and faster product releases.
Design-development misalignment
Inconsistent UI elements and developer-led design decisions led to inefficiencies and poor user experiences.
Scaling pains
As Socialive grew, maintaining design quality and consistency across multiple products became increasingly difficult. The tech debt was real.
Slow development cycles
With no unified design system language, UI components require time-consuming design and development.
Growing accessibility needs
Continued non-accessible design thinking began creating limitations for users, and increasing legal and compliance risks for growing customer base.
1. Research & foundation
Conducted stakeholder interviews with designers, developers, and product managers to understand pain points.
Audited the existing platform to identify common patterns, inconsistencies, and frequently used UI elements.
Defined the core principles of the design system: scalability, accessibility, and ease of use.
2. Design language development
Visual identity: Established foundational elements, including typography, color palettes, spacing, and iconography.
Component library: Designed reusable components like buttons, forms, cards, and navigation bars, each with multiple variants.
Design tokens: Defined tokens for colors, typography, and spacing to ensure platform-wide consistency.
3. System design & documentation
Created a living design system website with detailed documentation for each component, including usage guidelines and best practices.
Developed interactive prototypes for real-world context testing and validation.
4. Cross-team collaboration
Partnered closely with engineering teams to build and integrate components into a shared codebase.
Conducted training workshops to onboard designers and developers, fostering system adoption.
5. Continuous improvement
Established a governance process with regular reviews and updates to the design system.
Created a feedback loop to gather input from internal teams and iterate as needed.
Design consistency at scale:
A unified design language reduced UI inconsistencies across products.
Increased brand recognition through cohesive visuals.
Faster development & prototyping:
Reusable components accelerated product development.
Designers could prototype faster, enabling more frequent testing and iteration.
Cross-functional efficiency:
Reduced back-and-forth between design and development teams.
Developers spent less time on custom UI builds, focusing instead on product features.
Accessibility by default:
Built-in accessibility standards ensured that products met industry compliance from day one.
X% reduction in UI development time.
X% fewer design-related bugs reported after implementation.
Fostered team collaboration, with a shared understanding of design standards.
By creating a scalable design system, Justin empowered Socialive to ship faster, maintain higher design quality, and scale efficiently. His holistic approach to design, strategy, and team collaboration resulted in a long-lasting, impactful system that continues to drive innovation.
