Working in Code

I edited color values and token definitions directly in code and maintained the config files that controlled how the system showed up across the product. For animation sequencing, camera assignments, and menu organization I worked inside the codebase myself rather than writing specs and hoping someone interpreted them correctly.

New component types usually required engine features that didn't exist yet, so we ran focused kickoffs where I defined the behavior, engineering built the capability, and then I implemented the component on my end. Early on I sat down with engineers to agree on naming conventions so the design system vocabulary matched what was already in code, which cut down on translation errors and made adoption faster. When I needed something more complex, like formula driven animation controls for meter fills, engineering would open up those systems and I'd wire them into the components directly.

AI Auditing at Scale

The component library had years of debt and auditing 500+ assets manually wasn't realistic. So I used AI to write a script that scanned the codebase for every instance of our legacy panel components, surfaced which screens used them, and logged the properties each one had set. Full picture, one pass.

One example: the system had over 20 variations of the same panel, each built slightly differently for different contexts. The script showed me the different values set in those components and I was able to determine that they could be condensed into three core panel types, a global panel, a decorative panel, and an effects panel, each with configurable properties to handle the variation.

Without AI I could have found the duplicates eventually, but seeing every property across every screen at once is what gave me the confidence to cut aggressively.

Find and Replace, System Wide

I worked with engineering to write a second script that translated legacy properties onto the new components and swapped them across the codebase automatically. No one had to go screen by screen. This was my initiative, and combined with the auditing work it meant migrations that could have taken months happened in focused sprints instead.

Governance

I owned core primitives and tokens but trusted contributors could extend within guidelines.

Leadership alignment made that discipline sustainable and kept the system from drifting. I also started rolling out accessibility improvements, better contrast on selectable items and removing pure black and white body text. Early stage, more to do there.