Scalable Design System (0→1)

Industry

Ad Tech

Duration

12 Weeks

Company

Appier

Company

Appier

Team

1 UXD, 2 DEV

Team

1 UXD, 2 DEV

Business Challenge:
Fragmented Design System Slowing Product Development

As Appier expanded its suite of AI-powered advertising products, inconsistencies across design systems began to surface. Multiple teams were using different color palettes, components, and naming conventions, resulting in fragmented user experiences and inefficient collaboration between designers and developers. These inconsistencies slowed product delivery and made it difficult to maintain a cohesive brand across platforms.

As Appier expanded its suite of AI-powered advertising products, inconsistencies across design systems began to surface. Multiple teams were using different color palettes, components, and naming conventions, resulting in fragmented user experiences and inefficient collaboration between designers and developers. These inconsistencies slowed product delivery and made it difficult to maintain a cohesive brand across platforms.

Discovery & Analysis:
Defining a Scalable Design Foundation

To understand best practices, I reviewed leading design systems across the industry and analyzed competitors such as Insider and Bloomreach. This helped identify common patterns in structure, scalability, and component organization, while highlighting gaps in Appier’s existing system and informing how it could be improved.

Unifying Design:
Rebranding & System Rebuild

I proposed a unified rebranding and design system strategy to the CEO, outlining how a shared foundation could improve consistency, scalability, and cross-team efficiency. The proposal aligned design goals with long-term product growth and was approved for execution.

Execution:
Rebuilding the System Through Continuous Testing

I rebuilt the design system from the ground up while continuously validating it with designers and developers. Through regular testing and feedback sessions, I refined components, improved usability, and ensured the system supported real workflows. This iterative approach helped create a scalable, practical design system that teams could confidently adopt in their day-to-day work.

What We Delivered

A Scalable System for Growing Products

The new design system significantly improved cross-team efficiency and reduced friction between design and engineering. Teams were able to ship faster, maintain consistency across products, and adapt more easily as new features and products were introduced.