A new design system, built for scale and consistency

Seequent design system

Client

Seequent, Canada

Services

Design Systems Design Workshops User Experience Design User Interface Design

Industries

Software

Date

2024-2025

"Shoutout to @Nicole Rush for setting up the MUI libraries in Figma. Speaking as a user of these Figma files, this work has made my creative process so enjoyable and smooth. I just take templates Nicole's built, swap instances in and out for relevant power components, bam, design done! Took 20 mins only to build out a standard page for my product." Product designer, Seequent

Problem

Seequent’s rapid business expansion resulted in multiple disconnected design systems, leading to inconsistent user experiences and inefficiencies in the design and development processes. The current UI design kit, based on Atomic Design and Material Design principles, was outdated, time-consuming to update, and misaligned with development workflows. Scaling effectively for the future required a unified design system, clear guidelines, and seamless collaboration between design and development.

Solution

As a design lead, I helped lead the research, strategy, rollout and adoption of Material UI (MUI) for Seequent’s flagship cloud-based products. By leveraging MUI’s adaptable components and open-source framework, scalable Figma libraries were developed that now empower the product design team to ideate, design, and prototype more efficiently while ensuring seamless alignment with development outputs. I worked closely with a globally distributed design team to customise the MUI Figma library to reflect Seequent’s unique needs, including themes for colour, typography, iconography and component naming that matched the production design system. Tokens, variables, and universal type styles were implemented to ensure scalability and adaptability across multiple products. Designers and developers collaborated closely with regular reviews to align on design vision and technical feasibility, ensuring seamless implementation and a consistent user experience. This initiative involved close engagement with senior leadership, who recognised the design system’s transformative value in driving greater efficiency, enhancing collaboration, and unlocking creativity across the organisation.

Key design decisions

Adopting MUI

Material UI was selected for its adaptability, open-source foundation, and ability to align design and development workflows.

Customising libraries

Scalable Figma libraries were tailored to reflect Seequent’s unique design and production needs, enabling faster prototyping and delivery.

Phased implementation

Rolling out MUI incrementally allowed for iterative improvements and team buy-in, ensuring a smooth transition.

Impact

The adoption of Material UI for Figma and the updated collaboration framework between design and engineering has begun to deliver measurable benefits. Designers and developers now work faster with streamlined workflows, shared libraries, and better-aligned tooling. MUI’s tokenised approach eliminates repetitive work and simplifies the creation of UI elements. Customised themes and components ensure a cohesive design language that scales seamlessly across Seequent’s growing product suite, enhancing the user experience. Regular design reviews and feedback loops have strengthened alignment between design and engineering teams, fostering a culture of collaboration and shared ownership. The adoption of MUI themes and the roadmap to Material 3 lay the groundwork for a scalable, future-ready design system capable of supporting Seequent’s evolving needs.

Key takeaways

Driving collaboration

Cross-team alignment and clear communication were critical to the system’s success, fostering collaboration across design and development.

Efficiency at scale

Reusable components and a unified design language reduced inefficiencies and accelerated delivery timelines.

Future-proofing

Building the system with scalability in mind ensures Seequent can adapt to evolving business and user needs.