Project

AI in Design Systems

Overview

Transforming our static design system into an intelligent framework

As the Design Systems Lead at Vanguard, I was the primary resource for design system questions across multiple teams. Although our documentation lived in our Figma design system file, designers and developers sometimes would approach me with questions like:

“What are the accessibility requirements for this component?”

“Is this content acceptable to use in this component?”

“How does this component respond and behave on mobile?”

With the emergence of AI tools transforming how we interact with information, I saw an opportunity as a design system lead to reimagine the approach of our users to gather the information they need. Rather than just maintaining our design system as a static resource that teams had to search through or ask me questions, I envisioned creating an intelligent, conversational experience where designers and developers could simply ask questions and receive instant, contextual answers by teaching a knowledgeable assistant our design system.

Impact

What this tool solves

Enable self-service discovery of design guidelines, specifications, and best practices through natural conversation

Provide instant, 24/7 access to design system information with immediate responses

Eliminate design system bottlenecks by reducing team dependency on myself for routine questions and component guidance

Contributions

Due to my work being under NDA, my main contributions have been:

Migrating designs and documentation to AI tool for real-time updates

Leveraging native AI integration for better retrieval

Creating a sustainable workflow for maintaining current information

Creating a streamlined workflow for information retrieval for both designers and developers

Contact Me

If you’d like to learn more, don’t hesitate to reach out.