Design systems are a crucial key to efficiency in building products as well as maintaining consistency across products. I have led teams in delivering substantial work in this area, both at Spiceworks and at Realtor.com. This case study will focus on RDC specifically, as that effort was much more comprehensive and challenging, with an incredible scope of work.

When I stepped into the executive role overseeing design at Realtor.com, one of the most urgent structural challenges wasn’t a single feature — it was the foundation beneath every feature: a fragmented, inconsistent, multi-platform design system that slowed teams down, created unnecessary decision-making, and held back both quality and velocity.

My responsibility was to set the strategic direction, secure cross-functional alignment, and ensure my design, research, systems, and engineering partners had what they needed to rebuild a unified system capable of supporting a 75M+ monthly-user platform.

This was not a component library refresh — it was a complete operating-system overhaul for the entire product organization.