Streamlined Design System

Design System Lead

Cheddar Up

Context & My Role

Cheddar Up is a US-based payments platform with a bold, expressive brand and more than a decade of design work spread across 100+ Adobe XD files. The visual language was beautiful — but lacked structure. As the company scaled, design velocity slowed, inconsistencies emerged, and onboarding new designers became increasingly difficult.

I joined as the Design System Lead to introduce structure without compromising creativity. My responsibility was not just to build components, but to help the team work faster, collaborate more effectively, and feel confident transitioning from Adobe XD to Figma.

”

We are thriving and using your design system every day.
It’s become an essential part of our workflow.

Molly DiCarlo, CCO

Core Challenges

Through interviews with the CEO, CCO, and Engineering Lead, I identified three interconnected issues:

No source of truth

Design work was fragmented across many files, with repeated patterns and no standardized components.

Cross-functional misalignment

Developers and designers used different naming systems and had no shared language or reference point, increasing handoff time and QA cycles.

Fear of the transition

The stakeholders was concerned that moving to Figma would reduce productivity and restrict the brand’s creative expression.

Process & Key Decisions

Partnering early with engineering

Designing a safe transition to Figma

Balancing structure with creative flexibility

Creating a Shared language with Development

Partnering Early With Engineering

Instead of digging through years of XD files, I reframed the starting point: the most accurate components were already in production.  Partnering with the Engineering Lead, we extracted key UI elements and used them as the foundation for the system - saving weeks of work and ensuring technical alignment from day one.

Designing a Safe Transition to Figma

The move from XD to Figma required both empathy and strategy. I focused on helping the stakeholders feel confident and creatively free by: Building a familiar, expressive system Offering hands-on Auto Layout & component training Creating templates and safe guardrails This approach reduced the learning curve and made the transition feel empowering, not restrictive.

Balancing Structure With Creative Flexibility

Cheddar Up’s brand is expressive by nature. The system had to support that - not flatten it. I introduced: Flexible color families A structured but expressive typography system Standardized hover, focus, and accessibility states Variants only where they improved usability or dev efficiency This kept the brand identity strong while improving consistency.

Creating a Shared Language With Development

To eliminate friction between design and development, I introduced: Semantic naming (“Teal 100” instead of hex codes) Consistent spacing tokens Clear, reusable component patterns This dramatically reduced the need for explanatory documentation and improved implementation accuracy.

Impact & Results

Measurable Team Efficiency

Although Cheddar Up did not have formal metrics prior to my arrival, I measured qualitative and directional improvements:

Designers reported dramatically reduced time recreating patterns.
Development cycles shortened due to fewer visual inconsistencies and clearer specs.
The CCO regained productive velocity in Figma within weeks rather than months.

System-Level Consistency

Hover states, spacing rules, color families, and typography behavior became unified across the product.
The product now reflected a cohesive, accessible, brand-aligned experience rather than a collection of one-off decisions.

Sustainable Adoption

A key measure of success was longevity:

Months after my contract ended, the design system was still the team’s daily foundation.
A new UX designer adopted and extended it seamlessly — a strong indicator of its scalability and clarity.

Leadership Recognition

The project ultimately resulted in Cheddar Up offering me a full-time UX position – a testament to trust, impact, and leadership.