Zenith Design System
Role:
UX/UI
Strategy
Tokens
Design
Project Date:
2024—2025
View it in action:
Enter Zenith, a multi-brand design system crafted in Figma, powered by the magic of design tokens through Tokens Studio.
The World of Good Brands is a diverse ecosystem of digital publications, each with its own unique identity and target audience. However, this diversity also presented a challenge - fragmented design assets, inconsistent UI patterns, and duplicated efforts across teams. To address this issue, a revolutionary solution was introduced: Zenith Design System.
This served as the beacon of truth, providing a unified platform for teams to expedite the design and development processes while upholding brand individuality and consistency across the board.
Translating each brand's unique visual identity into a structured system of design elements
By establishing a foundational library of UI components, such as buttons, inputs, dropdowns, and navigation bars, Zenith created a scalable and adaptable foundation for future product explorations. Integration with Tokens Studio ensured that all visual treatments were converted into semantically named design tokens, promoting consistency across brands.
With a focus on building complex, purpose-driven patterns and reusable product layouts, Zenith empowered teams to rapidly adapt to different brands, campaigns, and content needs. The system also facilitated collaboration between brand teams, allowing for direct input in shaping digital presence without disrupting overall UX cohesion.
Before Zenith, design explorations across Well+Good, Only In Your State, and other brands were inconsistent, inefficient, and difficult to scale. We solved this by translating each brand’s visual identity into a structured system of typography, color palettes, iconography, spacing, grids, motion, and accessibility standards, all managed within Figma Libraries and Tokens Studio.
This provided:
• A single source of truth – every brand’s visual attributes were centralized, eliminating inconsistencies and redundant styling.
• Effortless updates – branding changes could sweep across the entire system in real time.
• A collaborative design approach – brand teams had direct input in shaping their digital presence without disrupting UX cohesion.
Once brand toolkits were established, we developed a foundational library of UI components that could be themed and adapted to multiple brands. These included:
• Buttons, inputs, dropdowns, navigation bars, and interactive elements, each designed with atomic-level consistency
• Tokens Studio integration, ensuring all visual treatments were converted into semantically named design tokens, creating structural parity across brands
• A scalable, adaptable foundation for all future product explorations, making UI updates fast and frictionless
With a solid foundation of tokens and components, we moved into higher-level UI structures, developing:
• Complex, purpose-driven patterns such as affiliate-driven content modules, map-based discovery, search functionality, and homepage frameworks
• Reusable product layouts that could be quickly adapted to different brands, campaigns, and content needs
• A catalog of product capabilities that made it easier for stakeholders to visualize MVPs and prioritize future roadmap initiatives
Project Highlights
Zenith's impact on design and development was profound. Brand toolkits allowed for easy customization while maintaining a shared design foundation. The core component library facilitated faster builds and seamless UI updates, reducing design and development time. The implementation of Tokens Studio created a structured, scalable token system that allowed for real-time updates and effortless theming, making cross-brand design work smoother than ever.
Each brand maintains its own unique aesthetic while leveraging a shared design foundation, making customization easy without reinventing the wheel
Our core component library allows for faster builds and seamless UI updates, ensuring consistency across brands while reducing design and development time
With Tokens Studio at play, a structured token system materialized, allowing for real-time updates and effortless theming—making cross-brand design endeavors smoother than ever.
Zenith transformed the way teams worked, reducing design inconsistencies, streamlining production workflows, and improving cross-brand collaboration