Under development.

Ives Design System

An open-source design system for designers and non-designers (through LLMs) to use.

Design SystemBrandUX Design

Context

Background

In January 2026, I started my first design system for an internal Cisco product. I was new to what design systems were, what they were for, and how much they could shape a brand.

So I set out to learn as much as I could: small Figma community libraries, then industry-level systems like Red Hat and Atlassian.

So, why build Ives?

In the age of vibe-coding, a polished UI can ship in minutes. Non-designers lean on models, but those models aren't inventing UI's from scratch.

More distinct design systems in the community means more training data, and thus more options for people building with AI. That's where Ives come in: an open-source system to use in Figma, Claude Design, or any other LLM.

How is Ives being built?

HereCurrent step

Step

Task

Researched 50+ design systems, from small community libraries to industry-level systems.

Defined the core library for Ives: semantic tokens, spacing, grids, iconography, typography, and more.

Building the component library in Figma, including accordions, calendars, banners, modals, forms, and more.

Document context for each component: usage, do's and don'ts, and accessibility notes.

Build the component library on Storybook as reusable React components.

Publish an npm package for open-source usage.

Publish a prompt library for installation and use in LLMs.

Preview