Design Systems
16.7M Component Insertions
17.5x adoption growth. +229% ROI. $600K saved annually.
Grupo Coppel·$15B Retail & Financial Services·10M+ customers
The Problem
- 300+ developers across 10+ products.
- No shared design language. Every team reinventing the wheel.
- Features that should take days took weeks.
- Design was the bottleneck, not the accelerator.
What I Did
Head of Design Systems @ CEDE
- Led transition from 10-20% contributor time to dedicated team
- Built governance model serving 308 active users across 19 libraries
- Measured and defended ROI: 7h/week saved per designer
- Enabled 2025 rebranding rollout across all digital products
Key Wins
- 17.5x adoption growth in one year (956K → 16.7M insertions)
- $600K USD saved annually through design system efficiency
- Transformed volunteer community into official strategic infrastructure
How It Works
flowchart TB
subgraph Leadership["👔 Leadership"]
Head["Head of Design Systems"]
end
subgraph Core["🎨 Core Team"]
Principals["Principals\nTeam Leads"]
Creators["Creators\nComponent Builders"]
Contributors["+20 Contributors"]
end
subgraph System["🧩 19 Libraries"]
Comp["Components"]
Icons["Icons &\nIllustrations"]
Patterns["Patterns &\nGuidelines"]
end
subgraph Governance["📊 Governance"]
Analytics["Figma Analytics\n16.7M Insertions"]
Docs["coppel-design.com\nDocumentation"]
end
subgraph Consumers["👥 308 Active Users"]
Designers["166 Designers"]
Devs["142 Developers"]
end
Head --> Principals
Head --> Creators
Principals --> Comp
Principals --> Icons
Creators --> Patterns
Contributors --> Comp
Comp --> Consumers
Icons --> Consumers
Patterns --> Consumers
Analytics -.-> Head
Docs -.-> Consumers
Quick summary complete
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📖 Full Case Study
🎯 The Challenge
Transitioning from 10-20% contributor time to full-time dedicated team. Building trust with managers to release designers for system work. Measuring ROI defensibly: 7h/week saved per designer, verified via internal survey. Maintaining quality during 17.5x growth.
✅ The Solution
Evolved Coltrane from community to official team within CEDE (Centro de Excelencia de Diseño de Experiencia). Built governance model with 100% dedicated team. Delivered 19 libraries: components, icons, illustrations, patterns. Supported 2025 rebranding rollout. 8.7M insertions for new brand (Coppel) + 7.2M for legacy (BanCoppel).
Coltrane DLS: 19 libraries, 308 users, 16.7M insertions
Culture, Collaboration, and Certainty
Centralized Design Website
A comprehensive platform was established to set the ground rules and kickstart the dynamics of the current system. After three quarters, the system has transcended from being merely a group of designers collaborating for the common good; it now resembles a cohesive community.
Coppel-design.com, the centralized website for the organization
Focus by asset
Coltrane units
Each vertical answers the question: What is Coltrane? Whether it's for a component, a login page, some icons, or for Android. In this way, each of us contributes our bit so that not only we, but everyone in the group, can tell the same story with the same colors, typography, and design patterns.
Ecosystem and its principles; each team is integrated by 3-7 people.
Design Culture
Roles
In this ecosystem, we have principals who lead other designers and developers, creators who challenge the group weekly to explore new tools, and stakeholders and managers who are actively involved in our meetings each week.
Better done than perfect
One of our main principles was inspired by Facebook -BETTER DONE THAN PERFECT- every week, we aim to create impactful results with minimal effort.
Main roles and functions
Agile and Design
Sprints
During each sprint, we produce valuable deliverables using Figma for design, store assets in Drive, use consulting tools, and provide templates for teams to use and give feedback on.
Ecosystem sprint model
Impact 2025
17.5x Adoption Growth
From 956K to 16.7M component insertions. 19 distributed libraries serving 308 active users (166 Figma Full + 142 Dev). New brand adoption: 8.7M insertions.
+229% ROI
55K+ hours saved annually across Grupo Coppel. $600K USD operational cost saved. 7 hours/week saved per designer (verified via internal survey).
Measured results from Figma Analytics (Dec 2024 - Dec 2025)
Transformation
From Volunteer to Official Team
In 2025, Coltrane evolved from a community using 10-20% contributor time to an official team within CEDE (Centro de Excelencia de Diseño de Experiencia). 100% dedicated resources. Governance model aligned with organizational strategy.
Rebranding Enabler
The DLS was critical infrastructure for the 2025 rebrand. Enabled rapid rollout of new brand across all digital products. Measurable, defensible, scalable impact.
From community to strategic infrastructure
Project Learnings
Building Trust at Scale
Convincing managers to release designers for system work required demonstrating ROI early and often. Weekly metrics and visible wins built organizational buy-in.
Community → Institution
Transitioning from volunteer energy to institutional support meant formalizing without killing the culture. The community spirit that built Coltrane remains its strongest asset.
Interested in working together?
Looking for leadership roles at product companies building design infrastructure at scale.