41 → 2
Figma libraries
We consolidated dozens of scattered libraries into two core sources of truth.
Emibê Design System
Leading the evolution, documentation, and adoption of Mercado Bitcoin's design system
Client
Mercado Bitcoin
Duration
Jun 2021 → Sep 2022
Scope
Design System, Product Design, Documentation, Governance
Team
2 Product Designers, 1 Eng Web, 1 Eng App
Overview
Bringing structure and clarity to a product experience for millions of users.
Mercado Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Latin America, serving millions of users across a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.
I started out in a multidisciplinary squad focused on security, designing end-to-end flows for Web, iOS, and Android. But living the day-to-day reality of the product made me notice huge systemic gaps. Instead of just patching individual screens, I stepped up to pivot my role and dedicate myself completely to building a core, centralized team.
The goal was to bring structure to a fragmented system: reduce inconsistencies, create reliable documentation, and make it easier for teams to actually use and maintain it across the product ecosystem.
Impacts
A simpler system,
with measurable results.
After four months of restructuring, the Design System became much easier to use, maintain and scale across teams.
3x faster
interface creation
Reusable components and clearer foundations reduced repetitive UI work.
Web + mobile
shared foundations
Common tokens and patterns aligned experiences across platforms.
Light + dark
multi-themed system
Shared foundations supported both themes consistently.
Centralized
Design System team
Clear ownership replaced the previous fragmented maintenance model.
Accessible
by foundation
Foundations, components and interaction patterns were designed following WCAG guidelines.
Applications
The Design system across the product.
By centralizing foundations, components and interaction patterns, we enabled product teams to create more cohesive experiences across Mercado Bitcoin's ecosystem.
The interfaces below showcase the application of the Design System across different journeys in both Light and Dark modes.
The challenge
How might we reduce fragmentation and create a Design System teams could actually rely on?
The existing system had grown into 41 Figma libraries, with duplicated components, inconsistent patterns, little documentation, and no clear ownership.
At the same time, Mercado Bitcoin was preparing a major rebrand. New colors, typography, and visual foundations needed to reach web, iOS, and Android consistently.
That made the problem harder to ignore. The system needed a clearer structure, stronger ownership, and a way for Design and Engineering to evolve it together.
We grouped the main problems into four areas:
Documentation
Usage rules were incomplete or hard to find, so designers often had to guess how components should behave.
Libraries
41 active libraries made it difficult to know which file or component was the current source of truth.
Design & Engineering
The system lived mostly in Figma, while web and mobile teams implemented patterns independently.
Accessibility
Typography and color decisions had recurring contrast and legibility issues across live interfaces.
Hands-on!
01
User research
We interviewed Product Designers across the company to understand how they were using the system and where it was getting in the way of their work.
The research gave us a baseline for satisfaction, system knowledge and accessibility awareness, and helped define our main priorities: organization, documentation, collaboration and shared processes.
- 19% CSAT Benchmark: Critically low satisfaction regarding library utility and asset speed.
- 5/10 Knowledge Score: Designers struggled to find or apply existing patterns properly.
- 78.6% Accessibility Gap: General team unfamiliarity with strict WCAG parameters.
02
Component inventory
We mapped existing interfaces across web, iOS and Android to understand which components already existed, where they diverged and what actually needed to be standardized.
This inventory became the starting point for consolidating the system.
03
Foundations
From the inventory, we rebuilt the foundations around shared design tokens for color, typography, spacing, shadows, borders, opacity and z-index.
The same token structure supported light and dark modes and gave Design and Engineering a shared foundation for future products and themes.
04
Components
We consolidated the component library and defined a repeatable process for researching, designing, documenting and releasing new components.
Core product patterns and icons were also centralized, giving teams a much smaller and clearer set of sources to work from.
05
Figma workspace
We reviewed how the team was using Figma and proposed moving to the Organization plan to improve workspace structure, governance and analytics.
During the migration, we audited inactive seats and reduced licensing costs by R$31K/year, helping offset the cost of the upgrade.
06
Collaboration
We restructured the shared Figma workspace around clearer projects, naming conventions, covers and library ownership.
Instead of defining everything inside the Design System team, we tested the proposal with designers through collaborative critique sessions and adapted it around how squads actually worked.
07
Cross-team alignment
We introduced a lightweight operating rhythm between Design System, Product and Engineering, with planning, weekly reviews and regular syncs.
This gave teams more visibility into what was being built and helped surface implementation problems earlier.
- 🗓️ DS Planning: Held every Monday to plan the DS team's activities for the week.
- 🗓️ DS Daily: Cross-discipline meetings to track progress and proactively unblock code barriers.
- 🗓️ DS Weekly: Conducted every Friday to review the week's activities and report progress to leadership.
- 🗓️ DS Sync: Conducted every Wednesday to align the team by presenting completed and ongoing tasks, leadership updates, research and ops, and acknowledgments for colleagues.
08
Communication and contribution
We created clearer ways for teams to follow the system and contribute back: Slack updates, a request space in Notion, an MVP roadmap and contribution guidelines.
09
Naming & Identity
The Design System was renamed through a collaborative process involving Product Designers and other people across the initiative.
We landed on Emibê, the phonetic pronunciation of “MB” in Brazilian Portuguese, connecting the system directly to Mercado Bitcoin while giving it a more recognizable internal identity.
I also explored the logo and visual direction for the new system.
The end of the journey
Leaving Emibê ready to keep growing.
I left Mercado Bitcoin in October 2022, with the design system already operating as a centralized system and a much clearer structure for how teams used, maintained and contributed to it.
The main learning I took from the experience was how much a Design System is about people. One of the coolest things about working with this type of product is being able to be close to my users and keep them involved and integrated at each stage of the process, continually adapting the system to meet their expectations and needs.
I'm grateful to the designers and engineers who shaped Emibê with me along the way, especially Sergio Lima, my Design System partner throughout the project. I learned a lot from working closely with him, and a big part of what I know about building and evolving Design Systems came from that collaboration.
