- CFIN built one shared design system before redesigning any individual page
- Every page built on it inherits consistency, accessibility and dark mode automatically
- It took longer upfront, but every page since has shipped faster as a result
It would have been faster, in the short term, for CFIN to redesign each page on its own. Instead, for the whole redesign, we built a single shared set of design tokens, components and rules first, and built every page from that shared foundation — a reflection on why, not a change you'll see directly.
What this looks like in practice
A fix to how a figure explains itself, or an improvement to how a card behaves in dark mode, now benefits every page built on the shared system at once, rather than needing to be applied one page at a time.
What you need to do
Nothing — this is really a note on how we work, offered for anyone curious about the approach behind the redesign.
In detail
- A single shared set of tokens, components and rules was built before any individual page redesign began.
- Every page built from that shared foundation automatically inherits the same consistency, accessibility support and dark-mode behaviour.
- This approach took longer up front than redesigning each page in isolation, but avoids having to solve the same problem repeatedly, page by page.
The honest trade-off
Building the shared foundation first meant customers waited a little longer to see the very first redesigned page than if we'd simply started with Overview in isolation.
We think that trade-off was worth it, because every page since the first has shipped faster and more consistently as a direct result, and that gap should keep closing as more of the system matures.