Design System Reset

Kong provides cloud connectivity solutions that help organizations manage, secure, and connect APIs, AI, events, and microservices. By 2023, multiple product teams were shipping features in parallel across a growing platform, with designers and engineers needing to rely heavily on a shared design system to move quickly and stay aligned.

When I joined Kong, I took ownership of the design system with the goal of improving collaboration between product design and engineering. Early conversations made it clear that the system was no longer supporting the team at the scale and complexity the organization had reached.

The design system had become a liability. Designers struggled to find reliable files in Figma, components were outdated or difficult to use, and teams frequently recreated or detached elements to meet immediate needs.

Engineering lacked a dependable source of truth. Design decisions were inconsistently applied and rarely documented, making parity between design and code difficult to maintain. As inconsistency increased, trust between disciplines eroded and handoffs slowed.

The problem was compounded by several constraints:

• A broad, distributed product surface with multiple teams shipping in parallel
• Highly customizable products, including open-source offerings
• No shared framework for documenting or governing design decisions
• Inconsistent language and mental models between design and engineering

At its core, the challenge was not simply fixing components. It was rebuilding a system that could support consistent decision-making, scale across distributed teams, and restore trust between design and engineering.

I approached the redesign of the system as both a technical and organizational problem, focusing on alignment, clarity, and usability. Each decision was aimed at addressing the lack of a shared source of truth, reducing inconsistency, and rebuilding trust between design and engineering.

1. Establishing a shared source of truth

To address inconsistent and undocumented design decisions, we introduced a framework for creating and managing design tokens. Tokens captured core decisions such as color, spacing, and typography and became the foundation for aligning design and engineering across tools and codebases.

With the introduction of Figma variables, we migrated key parts of the system to use tokens directly in design. This replaced brittle layer styles and manual workarounds, reduced drift between design and implementation, and made handoff more reliable for engineering.

2. Improving component usability across tools

Design and engineering aligned on consistent language for component properties in Figma and code. We rebuilt components using variants and structured properties, testing them frequently with designers to ensure they supported real workflows. Design participated directly in code reviews to validate parity and resolve inconsistencies early.

3. Aligning teams and ways of working

To address collaboration breakdowns, we facilitated an in-person offsite to clarify ownership and priorities. We established recurring rituals including office hours and cross-team 1:1s to maintain alignment. Rather than a disruptive overhaul, we iterated incrementally each sprint to allow gradual adoption.

Over the course of a year, the design system shifted from a source of friction to a reliable foundation for product teams. Improvements were introduced incrementally, allowing teams to adopt changes without disrupting active workstreams.

Clearer documentation, shared tokens, and improved component usability restored confidence in the system. Designers and engineers reported fewer handoff issues, reduced rework, and greater alignment in retrospectives.

As a result:

• Designers and engineers reported increased capacity due to fewer handoff issues
• Trust between design and engineering improved through clearer documentation and parity
• Design established clearer ownership of visual and interaction decisions through shared tokens
• Discoverability and usability in Figma improved through standardized organization and templates
• New designers onboarded more quickly using clearer, more adaptable components

While the design system continues to evolve, it became a unifying asset across teams, supporting more consistent product experiences and healthier collaboration at scale.

This project reinforced that design systems are ultimately about decision-making and trust, not just visual consistency. Improving usability for designers and engineers was crucial, and treating them as primary users of the system was essential to adoption.

I also learned the importance of sequencing and restraint. While deeper theming and customization were technically possible, prioritizing clarity, consistency, and shared understanding allowed the system to deliver value sooner without over-engineering.

Finally, the work highlighted how much of design system success is organizational. Creating space for alignment, shared language, and ongoing rituals mattered just as much as the components themselves, and had a lasting impact on how teams collaborated beyond this project.

This work was made possible through close collaboration with product, design, and engineering partners. Special thanks to Josh, Adam, Maksym, and Jilson.