Design system builds
A full system from the ground up — token architecture, a coded component library, a matching Figma kit, and documentation teams can build from. Typical engagement runs three to six months.
// Design Systems Lead
One system, every team, no drift
I build the design systems that let product teams move fast without breaking consistency — tokens, component libraries, and the governance that keeps them alive. Below is a small selection of recent work, chosen for the problem more than the pixels.
Services
What I can help with
Most engagements fall into one of four shapes. Whatever the brief, the goal is the same: a system teams actually reach for, not a library that quietly rots.
Design tokens & theming
A governed token taxonomy and a cross-platform pipeline, so one change to color or spacing flows to web, iOS, and Android — and multi-brand theming stays accessible by construction.
Accessibility patterns
Audited, keyboard- and screen-reader-tested patterns that meet WCAG 2.2 AA as a baseline. Accessibility baked into the system so teams stop retrofitting it screen by screen.
Governance & adoption
A contribution model, semantic versioning, and an adoption dashboard — the operating system that keeps a design system living instead of stalling after launch.
Selected work
Case studies
Six design system projects across enterprise SaaS, healthcare, retail, and the public sector. Each write-up covers the role I played, the process I ran, and the adoption and outcome we measured after rollout.
Design System · 2025
Meridian — Enterprise Design System
A single design system to unify eight product teams that had drifted into eight different button styles. Tokens, 60+ components, and multi-brand theming, all documented and versioned.
Component Library · 2024
Cobalt — Component Library & Figma Kit
A production-grade component library and matching Figma kit for a regulated healthcare product, built so designers and engineers work from a single source of truth.
Design Tokens · 2024
Northwind — Design Token Pipeline
A cross-platform token pipeline that lets a single change to brand color or spacing flow to web, iOS, and Android without anyone hand-editing values.
Accessibility · 2023
Halcyon — Accessibility Pattern System
An accessibility-first pattern library for a public-sector service, built to meet WCAG 2.2 AA as a baseline rather than a retrofit.
Governance · 2023
Beacon — Design System Governance
A contribution and versioning model that turned a stalling design system into a living one several teams actively improve.
Design System · 2022
Vela — Multi-Brand Theming Platform
One component library themed across four consumer brands, so each brand feels distinct while sharing the same audited, accessible foundation.
How I work
A system is a product, not a folder
Whatever the engagement, the shape of the work stays the same: inventory honestly, build for contribution, and measure adoption. A design system only pays off when teams choose it — so I treat the teams that use it as the real customer.
Inventory first
Before a single token, I audit what already exists — every button, spacing value, and one-off color. Naming the redundancy is how you earn the mandate to consolidate it.
Build for contribution
Components, a matching Figma kit, and docs that engineers build from without guessing. I design the contribution model alongside the library so the system can grow without me.
Measure adoption
Every system gets an adoption metric we agree on up front. If teams aren’t reaching for a component, that’s a design problem to fix — not a mandate to enforce.
Kind words
What clients say
A few notes from the people I’ve partnered with. These are neutral placeholder testimonials — replace them with your own once you gather them.
“Eight teams, eight button styles — until Marlowe. Within two quarters we had one library everyone actually reached for, and a shared language for the interface that stuck.”
“Rigorous, calm, and genuinely collaborative. The Figma-to-code contract was the cleanest handoff I’ve seen — engineers built straight from the tokens with almost no back-and-forth.”
“Our rebrand used to mean six weeks of hand-editing hex values. Marlowe’s token pipeline turned it into a one-line change that shipped in days.”
Currently booking design system engagements for the next quarter.
Scaling a design system?
Tell me where things stand — how many teams, what’s inconsistent today, and what a healthy system would unblock. I read every message and reply within a few business days.