Heycar is an online marketplace for new and used cars, with a mission to make the the car-buying process as easy and enjoyable as possible. Having an online only process allows users to buy their dream car without leaving their living room. Within my first few months at the company, I worked to define and implement a mobile-first global design system.
Contribution
Product design
Product strategy
Team
3x Product designers
Company
Heycar
Process
Starting with clarity
As Heycar transitioned from Sketch to Figma, I led a 6-week sprint to bring order, scalability, and consistency to our design workflow. With a growing team and new features on the horizon, this was our window to get it right.
Week 1: Audit & Alignment
We reviewed our outdated Sketch guidelines, stripped out what wasn’t working, and identified the core journeys and components worth keeping. This laid the foundation for a lean, relevant system.
Week 2: Foundations & Frameworks
After researching different methodologies, we adopted Brad Frost’s Atomic Design approach. I defined core styles including typography, colour, grid, spacing, and button systems — setting the standards that everything else would build on.
Weeks 3–4: Component Design
The focus shifted to scalable, mobile-first components. Every detail mattered — we used Auto Layout to ensure consistency, flexibility, and speed in the design process. Components weren’t just visual, they were built for real-world use across devices and platforms.
Week 5: Templates & Legacy Rebuilds
I rebuilt key templates using the new system and updated legacy files where future iteration was planned. These templates became a central toolkit for faster, more unified design across the product.
Week 6: Cross-Team Collaboration
I created handover documentation for product and engineering — covering states, variants, and usage. To embed adoption, I ran workshops with teams across the business on how to use Figma effectively and work within the new system.
Outcome
Ultimately the design system was a success, but by no means perfect. It did however allow us to seamlessly scale from 3 designers to 11. Documentation was continued after every new introduction to the system and was eventually used as the standard for our other team in Germany.