DIGITAL · 2023
Forma — Design System
The end-to-end design language for a B2B SaaS platform used by 40,000+ teams. Scalable, opinionated, and built to last.
Client: Forma Labs · Scope: Design System, UI Direction, Documentation
Forma Labs, Amsterdam. System review session, Q2 2023. Twelve months of decisions on one screen.
The Brief
Forma Labs had a product used by 40,000 teams and a design team of four. Their interface had been built feature-by-feature over five years by engineers working from inconsistent mockups, and it showed — eleven different button styles, four competing type scales, a component library that existed in name only.
The brief was to build a design system rigorous enough to hold the product together as it scaled, opinionated enough that engineers could work from it without a designer in the room, and documented well enough that it would still make sense to someone joining the team in three years.
Early system architecture sketches. The component hierarchy was mapped on paper before a single frame was opened in Figma.
The Approach
The first month was archaeology — cataloguing every component, every inconsistency, every one-off solution someone had built at 11pm to ship a feature on time. The system that emerged from that audit wasn't designed top-down; it was synthesised from what was already working and rebuilt around it.
A single type scale. A spacing system in multiples of four. A colour token architecture that could accommodate the light and dark modes the product roadmap required but hadn't yet built. Every component documented with usage rules, not just specs — because a component without a usage rule is just a picture of a button.
The Result
Forma's engineering team adopted the system within six weeks of handoff — faster than any previous design initiative had been implemented. Component inconsistencies across the product dropped by over 80% within two quarters. The design team went from spending 60% of their time on QA and inconsistency firefighting to spending that time on new feature work.
The system is now in its second major version, maintained entirely in-house. It outlasted the brief.
Design system review with Forma's engineering leads. The handoff took three sessions. The questions took three months.
40K+
Teams Using Forma
80%
Inconsistency Reduction
6
Weeks to Full Adoption
2
System Versions
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