Pulse: A design system for a health platform

Pulse had grown to six product teams, each rebuilding the same buttons, forms, and tables in slightly different ways. The result was an inconsistent experience for patients and clinicians, and a lot of duplicated effort. I led the work to design a shared system everyone could trust.

The problem

There was no shared source of truth. Color contrast varied wildly, focus states were inconsistent, and every team interpreted spacing differently. For a health product, the accessibility gaps weren’t cosmetic — they were a real barrier to care.

Approach

I started with tokens — semantic color, type, and spacing scales that bake WCAG-compliant contrast into the defaults so teams can’t easily ship inaccessible UI. On top, a component library with usage guidance, accessibility notes, and live code, all in one searchable site.

The system turned accessibility from a checklist at the end into the path of least resistance.

Engineering Lead, Pulse Health

Outcome

• New screens shipped 2–3× faster with consistent, accessible UI.
• Every core component met WCAG 2.1 AA contrast and focus requirements.
• A single documentation site became the shared language across design and engineering.