Sectigo Design System®
Senior Product Designer engaged to bring order to Sectigo's design system, spanning many product brands that had grown large and unmanageable, not from a lack of design skill, but from a lack of rules, structure, and shared documentation.
Client
Sectigo
Industry
PKI /
Cybersecurity
Year
2026
Services Provided
Design System Architecture, Governance & Documentation, Token Strategy,
Overview®
//001
Sectigo's design system had grown across many product brands over several years, with no single team or process governing how it evolved. By the time this project began, 12 brands were each maintaining their own version of shared components, tokens, and patterns, built independently and reconciled only when something broke. The work here was to replace that patchwork with one governed architecture, backed by a documented rule set every product team could build against, and to prove that structure out through a formal validation process before rolling it out further.
Sectigo Design System®
Senior Product Designer engaged to bring order to Sectigo's design system, spanning many product brands that had grown large and unmanageable, not from a lack of design skill, but from a lack of rules, structure, and shared documentation.
Client
Sectigo
Industry
PKI /
Cybersecurity
Year
2026
Services Provided
Design System Architecture, Governance & Documentation, Token Strategy,
Overview®
//001
Sectigo's design system had grown across many product brands over several years, with no single team or process governing how it evolved. By the time this project began, 12 brands were each maintaining their own version of shared components, tokens, and patterns, built independently and reconciled only when something broke. The work here was to replace that patchwork with one governed architecture, backed by a documented rule set every product team could build against, and to prove that structure out through a formal validation process before rolling it out further.
Key Challenges®
//002
Sectigo's brands had each built their own version of the design system independently, with no shared source of truth connecting them.
//01
There was no governance model. Anyone could add a new component, color, or style whenever they needed one, with nobody accountable for keeping the system consistent.
//02
The system had grown massive, covering many brands and modes, but its size had become the problem rather than a strength, since nothing was organized around a clear hierarchy.
//03
Token usage was inconsistent throughout, some parts used primitive values, others semantic tokens, others were simply hardcoded, with no rule for which to use when.
//04
The component and style picker had turned into a long list of unrelated items, making it hard for anyone to find or trust what they were selecting.
//05
At its core, this was not a skills problem. It was a rules problem. People were reacting to the system as it existed rather than building within any real structure.
//06
Key Challenges®
//002
Sectigo's brands had each built their own version of the design system independently, with no shared source of truth connecting them.
//01
There was no governance model. Anyone could add a new component, color, or style whenever they needed one, with nobody accountable for keeping the system consistent.
//02
The system had grown massive, covering many brands and modes, but its size had become the problem rather than a strength, since nothing was organized around a clear hierarchy.
//03
Token usage was inconsistent throughout, some parts used primitive values, others semantic tokens, others were simply hardcoded, with no rule for which to use when.
//04
The component and style picker had turned into a long list of unrelated items, making it hard for anyone to find or trust what they were selecting.
//05
At its core, this was not a skills problem. It was a rules problem. People were reacting to the system as it existed rather than building within any real structure.
//06
Key Challenges®
//002
Sectigo's brands had each built their own version of the design system independently, with no shared source of truth connecting them.
//01
There was no governance model. Anyone could add a new component, color, or style whenever they needed one, with nobody accountable for keeping the system consistent.
//02
The system had grown massive, covering many brands and modes, but its size had become the problem rather than a strength, since nothing was organized around a clear hierarchy.
//03
Token usage was inconsistent throughout, some parts used primitive values, others semantic tokens, others were simply hardcoded, with no rule for which to use when.
//04
The component and style picker had turned into a long list of unrelated items, making it hard for anyone to find or trust what they were selecting.
//05
At its core, this was not a skills problem. It was a rules problem. People were reacting to the system as it existed rather than building within any real structure.
//06
Design Approach®
//003
Mapped the full architecture and rollout as a formal plan before any component work started, a Foundations to Core to Sub System to Project cascade with clear file ownership and phase gates, so the plan itself became a reference the whole org could review and align on.
//01
Documented one written source of truth for the org, covering naming conventions, when to use primitive versus semantic tokens versus hardcoded values, and which layer owns which decision, so nobody had to guess or ask.
//02
Built the Sectigo Core file as the reference pattern with handoff documentation attached, giving every other product team a concrete, written structure to follow rather than an example to reverse engineer.
//03
Set a formal validation gate, bringing the plan and the built reference to the PD Board for review and sign off before any other team was authorized to build on it, so adoption started from agreement, not assumption.
//04
Introduced an AI assisted workflow using Claude and Figma's MCP integration to accelerate documentation, token generation, and design to code handoff, an approach that has since drawn interest in being scaled to the wider team.
//05
Design Approach®
//003
Mapped the full architecture and rollout as a formal plan before any component work started, a Foundations to Core to Sub System to Project cascade with clear file ownership and phase gates, so the plan itself became a reference the whole org could review and align on.
//01
Documented one written source of truth for the org, covering naming conventions, when to use primitive versus semantic tokens versus hardcoded values, and which layer owns which decision, so nobody had to guess or ask.
//02
Built the Sectigo Core file as the reference pattern with handoff documentation attached, giving every other product team a concrete, written structure to follow rather than an example to reverse engineer.
//03
Set a formal validation gate, bringing the plan and the built reference to the PD Board for review and sign off before any other team was authorized to build on it, so adoption started from agreement, not assumption.
//04
Introduced an AI assisted workflow using Claude and Figma's MCP integration to accelerate documentation, token generation, and design to code handoff, an approach that has since drawn interest in being scaled to the wider team.
//05
Design Approach®
//003
Mapped the full architecture and rollout as a formal plan before any component work started, a Foundations to Core to Sub System to Project cascade with clear file ownership and phase gates, so the plan itself became a reference the whole org could review and align on.
//01
Documented one written source of truth for the org, covering naming conventions, when to use primitive versus semantic tokens versus hardcoded values, and which layer owns which decision, so nobody had to guess or ask.
//02
Built the Sectigo Core file as the reference pattern with handoff documentation attached, giving every other product team a concrete, written structure to follow rather than an example to reverse engineer.
//03
Set a formal validation gate, bringing the plan and the built reference to the PD Board for review and sign off before any other team was authorized to build on it, so adoption started from agreement, not assumption.
//04
Introduced an AI assisted workflow using Claude and Figma's MCP integration to accelerate documentation, token generation, and design to code handoff, an approach that has since drawn interest in being scaled to the wider team.
//05
Design Approach®
//003
Mapped the full architecture and rollout as a formal plan before any component work started, a Foundations to Core to Sub System to Project cascade with clear file ownership and phase gates, so the plan itself became a reference the whole org could review and align on.
//01
Documented one written source of truth for the org, covering naming conventions, when to use primitive versus semantic tokens versus hardcoded values, and which layer owns which decision, so nobody had to guess or ask.
//02
Built the Sectigo Core file as the reference pattern with handoff documentation attached, giving every other product team a concrete, written structure to follow rather than an example to reverse engineer.
//03
Set a formal validation gate, bringing the plan and the built reference to the PD Board for review and sign off before any other team was authorized to build on it, so adoption started from agreement, not assumption.
//04
Introduced an AI assisted workflow using Claude and Figma's MCP integration to accelerate documentation, token generation, and design to code handoff, an approach that has since drawn interest in being scaled to the wider team.
//05
Final Outcome
//004
The design system moved from twelve independently drifting brand systems to a single governed architecture, with a documented rule for every naming and token decision that previously had none. The component picker now reflects what is actually usable rather than a long, unrelated list, and every product team has a clear, documented plan for what to build, fix, or organize on their own going forward.
Final Outcome
//04
The design system moved from twelve independently drifting brand systems to a single governed architecture, with a documented rule for every naming and token decision that previously had none. The component picker now reflects what is actually usable rather than a long, unrelated list, and every product team has a clear, documented plan for what to build, fix, or organize on their own going forward.
Final Outcome
//004
The design system moved from twelve independently drifting brand systems to a single governed architecture, with a documented rule for every naming and token decision that previously had none. The component picker now reflects what is actually usable rather than a long, unrelated list, and every product team has a clear, documented plan for what to build, fix, or organize on their own going forward.
Achievement
//004
12 brands unified under one governed architecture
1 documented source of truth replacing scattered, inconsistent token usage
Phase 1 validated by the PD Board, unlocking parallel rollout across all product teams
AI assisted workflow adopted as a candidate to scale across the wider design team
Achievement
//04
12 brands unified under one governed architecture
1 documented source of truth replacing scattered, inconsistent token usage
Phase 1 validated by the PD Board, unlocking parallel rollout across all product teams
AI assisted workflow adopted as a candidate to scale across the wider design team
Achievement
//004
12 brands unified under one governed architecture
1 documented source of truth replacing scattered, inconsistent token usage
Phase 1 validated by the PD Board, unlocking parallel rollout across all product teams
AI assisted workflow adopted as a candidate to scale across the wider design team
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