Proving design system ROI
Client
Affirm
Role
Design Systems Lead
Responsibilities
Design Systems, Stakeholder Reporting, Metrics & Analysis
Overview
Design systems are often justified on faith rather than data. This project set out to change that by building a measurement framework that connected design system investment to outcomes stakeholders could see and trust.
Approach
We worked with engineering and product leadership to define the metrics that actually mattered: adoption rate across teams, time saved on implementation, and consistency gains across the product surface. Rather than reporting activity, like components shipped, we reported impact, like hours saved and defects avoided.
Outcomes
The resulting framework gave leadership a recurring, credible view of design system value, and became the basis for continued investment in the system going forward.
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