@sarahchen
Design Systems @ Scale AI
Design systems architect. Building the future of product design at Scale AI. Previously Figma, Stripe.
Highlights
Just shipped our new design token system at Scale AI. 400+ semantic tokens covering color, spacing, typography, and motion. The key insight: tokens aren't just variables — they're design decisions encoded as data. Here's what we learned after 6 months of iteration 🧵
Hot take: Most design systems fail not because of bad components, but because of bad governance. You need clear ownership, contribution guidelines, and a deprecation process. The code is the easy part.
Every junior designer needs to hear this: Your portfolio doesn't need 10 projects. It needs 3 amazing ones. Each should show: 1. The problem (with data) 2. Your process (messy is fine) 3. The outcome (with metrics) Quality > quantity. Always.
We just open-sourced our entire design system. 200+ components, full Figma kit, and React/Vue/Svelte implementations. Used by 3 Fortune 500 companies in production. Now it's free for everyone.