Design systems
Design systems that survive handoff.
Tokens, components and governance shipped into your repository — versioned, documented, and usable by people who were never in the workshop.
A component library
is not a design system.
A component library is the components. A design system is those components, the tokens underneath them, the rules for adding new ones, and documentation good enough that someone who was not there still makes the right decision.
The difference shows up about a year in. One of them still governs how the product looks. The other has quietly become a folder people copy from.
What the system
actually covers.
Design system audit
Where you are now, honestly: what exists, what actually gets used, and what gets bypassed. Usually the first thing worth buying.
Token architecture
Colour, space, type, radius and motion, structured so brand, theme and density stay independent instead of multiplying.
Component library
Built against the states that occur — empty, error, partial, loading — and shipped as code into your repository.
Governance
Contribution rules, review workflow, and the tooling that enforces them. Rules held in memory are not rules.
Multi-brand and theming
One foundation carrying several brands or themes, without duplicating everything for each.
Accessibility built in
WCAG 2.2 AA inside the components, so screens inherit it rather than failing an audit later.
Design system audit.
Two weeks, fixed scope. The fastest way to find out whether you need a system, a rebuild, or a decision nobody has made yet.
Fixed price — ask us for the current figure. If it becomes a build, the audit fee comes off the first invoice.
- A map of what exists today — components, tokens, and where they diverge
- Where the system gets bypassed, and why people bypass it
- A prioritised list of gaps, costed
- A written recommendation, including the option of doing nothing
What you actually
hold at the end.
- A token architecture with no cross-layer violations, and the documentation proving it
- Components in your repository, versioned, covering the states that actually occur
- A contribution guide written on the assumption that we are gone
- A governance model your team can run without us
Asked often enough
to answer here.
01Do we need a design system yet?
If you have one product and two designers, probably not. The tipping point is usually the third team shipping screens nobody else reviews.
02We already have one and it is not working. Can you fix it?
That is the common case, and the answer is almost never more components. Start with the audit — the problem is usually governance, not inventory.
03Who maintains it after you leave?
Your team. That is the point, and it is why the contribution guide and the governance model matter more than the component count.
Have something complex
to build?
Tell us the problem. We will come back with how we would approach it — not a pitch deck.