I led the creation of a unified retail design system for Starbucks to serve as the foundation across all partner-facing digital tools. With multiple teams designing across a growing ecosystem of operational products, we needed a scalable solution that would reduce redundancy, speed up development, and ensure a consistent, accessible experience for baristas and store managers.

The Challenge

The lack of a shared design framework had led to inconsistencies in UI patterns, visual language, and interaction behavior across partner tools. This created confusion for end users, misalignment across product teams, and inefficiencies in how designs were created, reviewed, and built. The opportunity was clear: build a flexible, evolving design system that could serve every team and every tool in the Starbucks retail portfolio.

My Approach

I focused on building a system that balanced structure with flexibility. The process included:

• Auditing existing products to identify inconsistencies and redundant UI patterns

• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to define shared standards and components

• Creating a comprehensive library in Figma with modular components, color tokens, typography, spacing, states, and interaction patterns

• Documenting best practices, usage guidelines, and accessibility specs for seamless adoption across design and engineering

• Evangelizing the system to product teams and leadership to encourage adoption and long-term sustainability

Key Goals

Consistency & Efficiency: Reusable UI components reduced design and dev time while ensuring a unified look and feel across all tools

Collaboration: A shared design language minimized confusion between designers and developers, improving handoff and accelerating delivery

Scalability: Built a flexible system that adapts to new features, tools, and use cases across the retail product landscape

Accessibility: Integrated inclusive design principles to meet WCAG 2.1 standards and create better experiences for all users

The Impact

• 30% reduction in time-to-design for new feature work

• Faster design reviews and fewer QA issues due to standardized components

• Increased design system adoption across multiple pods supporting partner tools

• Stronger brand presence and more intuitive interfaces for store partners

• Onboarded new designers faster with clear documentation and reusable assets

What I Learned

• A design system is not just a library—it's a product that requires governance, iteration, and community

• Early cross-team alignment makes adoption smoother and helps avoid fragmentation

• Investing in structure frees teams to innovate, rather than reinvent