Case Study – Scaling design for consistency and speed

CONTEXT

The Telefónica Design System is used across 12 brands (3 owned and 9 partner brands), comprising more than 75 components. It is actively used by 50+ UX/UI designers to design products across the ecosystem. The challenge was to scale the system sustainably while improving collaboration between design and development teams.

CHALLENGE

• Managing 12 separate Figma libraries meant every update had to be made 12 times → high maintenance effort and inconsistencies
• The design-to-code handover was error-prone
• The token architecture had become overly complex and difficult to maintain
• Component documentation was fragmented and lacked structure

APPROACH

• Introduced Figma Dev Mode and “Inspect Mode” in the Token Studio plugin to enable a more accurate handover
• Established a new documentation structure including workflows, creation and review guidelines
• Rebuilt the design tokens with a clear layer structure, a refined alias level, and comprehensive documentation
• Modernized and tokenized components (e.g. Checkbox, Input, Select, Tabs, Carousel, etc.)
• Conducted workshops on token architecture and Figma Variables

IMPACT

• Migrated from 12 separate Figma libraries to one centralized library
• Achieved a 10x efficiency increase in maintenance and development — updates now made only once
• Significantly improved consistency and quality across all brands
• Strengthened the white-label approach, enabling faster rollouts for partner brands
• Ensured long-term scalability, reducing complexity and accelerating innovation