Overview
UI Core is a Figma-based UI component kit powered by design tokens, built to help freelancers and small agencies ship faster without recreating UI foundations for every new client. Launched in 2023, it was among the first UI kits on the market to apply design tokens in a practical, production-ready way.
Role
Solo Builder
Responsibility
Design System Architect, Research, Build, Go-to-market
Challenges
In 2023, while working as a product designer in an outsourcing agency, I repeatedly faced the same problem across projects: rebuilding UI components from scratch to match different client brands and requirements. This repetitive setup work consumed time, reduced focus on real product problems, and slowed delivery speed.
Outsourcing projects required fast turnaround but inconsistent branding across clients meant reusable components were rarely reusable in practice.
Lack of a scalable system meant every project restarted from zero: colors, typography, spacing, and components.
At the time, most UI kits on the market focused on static components, not adaptability across brands or platforms.
As a solo builder, I had to learn and implement design system fundamentals without internal system support or mentorship.
Research approach
As a self-learner, I studied established design systems to understand how large organizations solved scalability:
Adobe Spectrum for token structure and accessibility rigor
Salesforce Lightning for enterprise component consistency
Shopify Polaris for product-focused patterns
Goldman Sachs design system for clarity and restraint
Untitled UI for modern UI patterns and Figma execution quality
In parallel, I learned and experimented with Token Studio (formerly Figma Tokens), focusing on how design tokens could bridge branding flexibility and component reuse.
Design process
Defined token architecture for color, typography, spacing, radius, and shadows.
Built scalable color and typography scales adaptable across desktop (landing pages, SaaS dashboards) and mobile.
Designed core UI components mapped directly to tokens, ensuring brand changes propagated instantly across the system.
Validated system flexibility by applying multiple brand themes without rebuilding components.
Packaged the system into a Figma UI kit optimized for real-world freelancer and agency workflows.
Explain what's design tokens
Introduce the benefit of my UI kit
Outcome
Delivered a fully token-driven UI core kit after three months of solo development.
Launched as one of the first UI kits on the market in 2023 to meaningfully integrate design tokens.
Achieved early market validation with paying users.
Reduced UI setup time dramatically for branding-heavy projects, replacing repetitive component rebuilding with token-level customization.
Established a strong personal foundation in design systems, tokens, and scalable UI architecture that later informed larger product and system work.