design, system
Three product teams, three visual languages, one confused customer. I built Colorlab — a token-based design system with documented components and governance — so design and code finally speak the same language.
| Client | Colorlab, SaaS group |
|---|---|
| Year | 2023 |
| Role | Design systems lead, UI & tokens |
| Services | UI/UX Design, Brand Consulting |
Overview
After two acquisitions, Colorlab’s products looked like strangers: 14 grays, 6 button styles, accessibility failures in every audit. Designers redrew the same components weekly; engineers hardcoded hex values to keep up.
The brief: one system serving three brands — shared bones, distinct skins — with documentation good enough that a new hire ships correctly on day one.
Approach
I audited 400+ screens down to 46 components, then rebuilt them on design tokens: color, type and spacing as data, themed per brand. Every component ships with usage rules, dos and don’ts, and coded equivalents.
Governance was the other half — a lightweight RFC process and monthly system review, so the library grows by decision instead of drift.
Deliverables
Our teams finally design from the same source of truth. New features look like us on the first try — that never happened before Colorlab.
Daniel Whitfield
Founder & Creative Director
Related work
One system, one source of truth — let’s scope yours.
