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Design System

Systems Thinking

Overhauling Design Systems at Searchland

Overhauling Design Systems at Searchland

SUMMARY

My work as a Product Designer on Searchland design system led to a 95% adoption rate across active projects and a significantly faster design handoff process, achieved by consolidating over 110 components.

TIMELINE

Mar - Jul 2025

ROLE

Product Designer
(Design Systems)

TEAM

1 Head of Product Design
1 CTO & Co-founder
3 Software Engineers

TOOLS

Figma, Storyboard, HTML/CSS

ABOUT

Searchland is an all-in-one property tech and data platform.

Searchland is an all-in-one property tech and data platform.

Searchland is a single, comprehensive B2B platform that consolidates various property datasets, from land ownership to market analytics. It removes the hassle of manually checking multiple sources, which saves professionals significant research time and effort.

CONTEXT

As Searchland scaled quickly as a Series D startup, their design infrastructure couldn't keep up with their rapid growth.

As Searchland scaled quickly as a Series D startup, their design infrastructure couldn't keep up with their rapid growth.

After five years of rapid growth, Searchland's chaotic, one-off approach to design was holding them back. The teams were building products from scratch every time, resulting in an inconsistent user experience that significantly slowed down product feature delivery.

A disorganized UI with clashing colors and inconsistent fonts created a confusing and unprofessional user experience.

THE PROBLEM

The absence of a single source of truth fragmented our products and impeded both cross-functional collaboration and scalability.

The absence of a single source of truth fragmented our products and impeded both cross-functional collaboration and scalability.

We had no single source of truth for design, which was creating problems for our end users as well as our internal teams. Without a unified design system, the workflow between the engineering team and designers was disconnected and inefficient.

1.

Fragmented Experience

Our products lacked cohesion, with disjointed design choices creating a confusing and unreliable user experience.

2.

Disconnected Collaboration

A lack of a single source of truth created a one-off process that resulted in technical debt and constant developer friction.

3.

Inefficient Workflow

Teams spent valuable time on manual handoffs and duplicated work, significantly slowing down our delivery and wasting valuable resources.

APPROACH

Invest in a systemized approach to maintain efficiency and forward progression.

Invest in a systemized approach to maintain efficiency and forward progression.

As a bridge between design leadership and engineering, I created visual guidelines and aligned stakeholders to ensure a systemized and scalable implementation of the new design system, enabling both efficiency and forward progression.

I followed this process to maintain close alignment with the engineering teams, design leadership and executives throughout the entire process.

COLLABORATION

From the start, I brought in the engineering team to ensure our design solutions were technically feasible and could be implemented smoothly.

From the start, I brought in the engineering team to ensure our design solutions were technically feasible and could be implemented smoothly.

With the head of UX, I coordinated with leadership and cross-functional teams to align our plans and organize efforts from short-term sprints to long-term initiatives. We shared our plans and processes early with the engineering team to get their buy-in, which was crucial for a successful implementation.

EVALUATION PROCESS

Each new component or pattern undergoes a multi-round evaluation process before development.

Each new component or pattern undergoes a multi-round evaluation process before development.

A component is always evolving with the needs of the users, product, and market standards. It’s important for teams to keep an open feedback loop to maintain consistency, quality, and validated solutions.

ITERATION

I conducted extensive, detailed visual iterations, focusing on every detail from spacing to color, on a granular level.

I conducted extensive, detailed visual iterations, focusing on every detail from spacing to color, on a granular level.

I conducted extensive visual iterations, paying close attention to granular details while always keeping the larger system in mind. This effort established clear guidelines for component modifications and new design tokens, ensuring a unified and scalable user experience across all screens and platforms.

This work laid the foundation for a unified design system by establishing consistent design tokens. This granular work ensured that the brand's identity was consistently and effectively communicated across all user touchpoints, ultimately accelerating the product development process.

DOCUMENTATION

I worked with design leadership and engineering teams to finalize the design system's documentation, and a process for its maintenance and evolution.

I worked with design leadership and engineering teams to finalize the design system's documentation, and a process for its maintenance and evolution.

This created a single source of truth that streamlined handoffs and ensured a consistent, scalable product. I established a process for its continuous maintenance and evolution, ensuring the system remains a reliable resource as the product evolves.

I finalized a design system's documentation, creating a unified reference for all teams that reduced design-to-development friction and improved overall workflow efficiency. This living document will be continually updated to support seamless collaboration and future growth.

IMPACT

I increased design system adoption to 95% across all active projects by creating and delivering over 110 components.

I increased design system adoption to 95% across all active projects by creating and delivering over 110 components.

This effort not only standardized the user experience but also greatly streamlined the design-to-development workflow, reducing friction and accelerating project timelines for multiple teams. My work on detailed design tokens was driven by systems thinking, guaranteeing that every small element contributes to the overall information hierarchy and a cohesive product.

USABILITY

In just 6 months, the new design system elevated our product shipping process and product's usability.

In just 6 months, the new design system elevated our product shipping process and product's usability.

I continually evaluated the usability of our new components with design leadership and engineering, prioritizing constructive feedback to ensure the design system remained effective and a reliable single source of truth for all teams.

After (Left) Vs. Before (Right):
We were intentional with every small element to ensure it directly communicated the larger product's information hierarchy and brand identity. This intentional approach ensured that every component served a strategic purpose within the larger user experience.

Work

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