How I Built My Design System from Scratch

After years of starting each project with a blank Figma file, I finally took the plunge and created my own comprehensive design system. The process was both challenging and incredibly rewarding, and I wanted to share my approach for other designers considering the same journey.

I started by auditing five of my recent projects, identifying common patterns and components that appeared across different designs. This revealed inconsistencies in my work that I hadn't noticed before—seven slightly different button styles, inconsistent spacing rules, and text styles that varied without clear purpose.

Rather than creating a rigid system upfront, I built it iteratively through a real client project. For the EcoTrack app, I documented each component as I designed it, creating a living system that evolved with the project's needs.

The core of my system includes:

• A flexible color system with semantic naming conventions
• Typography scales based on the golden ratio
• Component variants with clear usage guidelines
• Spacing and layout rules that maintain consistency across devices

The biggest challenge wasn't technical but psychological—learning to trust the system instead of reinventing solutions for each new problem. But the payoff has been enormous: my design process is now 40% faster, client revisions have decreased significantly, and handoff to development is much smoother.

If you're considering building your own system, my advice is to start small with core elements, test them on real projects, and document as you go. A good design system should feel like a trusted collaborator, not a set of restrictions.

I've attached a template of my component documentation method below—feel free to adapt it for your own workflow!