EveryDollar Design System

Ramsey Solutions · EveryDollar · iOS/Android & Web

Created a design system 0-to-1 that product teams later adopted.

With four squads designing EveryDollar in parallel, the product grew inconsistent and harder to maintain. I created a shared design system that aligned the teams and made separate parts of the app feel like one product.

EveryDollar design system properties and organization.

The Problem

Ramsey had a global design system, but nothing that applied EveryDollar's branding to those components or housed the components unique to EveryDollar. Four squads were designing in parallel, leading to inconsistent UI, duplicated work, and slower development.

My Role

SENIOR PRODUCT DESIGNER
I started the system on my own initiative and built it alone, then opened it up for the other EveryDollar designers to contribute after launch. I worked with engineering as components moved into the product.

WHAT SHIPPED

  • EveryDollar-branded versions of the global components

  • Product-specific components that could guide other Ramsey digital products

  • Do/Do Not usage guidance for components

  • Foundations, components, and patterns in one library

EveryDollar design system components.

EveryDollar design system components

Decisions & Trade-offs

BUILDING ON THE GLOBAL SYSTEM, NOT AROUND IT

I applied EveryDollar’s branding to Ramsey’s global components and added only the components unique to EveryDollar. As the flagship product, those additions could lead the way for consistency across Ramsey’s other digital products.

RELEASING THE FULL LIBRARY AT ONCE

We released the entire library instead of rolling it out piece by piece. Teams then moved each area of the product onto the new components as that work was prioritized, so adoption followed the roadmap without pausing feature work.

GUARDING CONSISTENCY ACROSS SQUADS

I added Do/Do Not guidance so a team using a component in a new part of the app wouldn’t change how it worked. Each squad owned a different area, but the app needed to feel like one product.

Constraints

The system had to be introduced while teams were actively shipping, requiring a balance between improving consistency and not disrupting ongoing work.

Brand guidelines were also evolving, requiring flexibility in how standards were defined.

A snapshot of primitives, semantics, and defined variables.

A snapshot of primitives, semantics, and defined variables

What Changed

Parts of the app built by different squads began to look and work like a single product, with fewer inconsistencies, clearer functionality, and faster design and build time. All four squads adopted the system, and other teams across Ramsey started using EveryDollar components and branding them for their own products.

Hindsight

Future improvements could include stronger tooling integration and more automated enforcement of design standards.

Organizational structure of EveryDollar design system.
Organizational structure of EveryDollar design system.

Organizational structure of EveryDollar design system