Intro
How do you completely refresh a company’s visual identity while simultaneously rolling out active product features? That was the challenge I faced at Finfare. I was responsible for updating the entire design system—colors, typography, components—while ensuring nothing broke in live features. The project demanded careful planning, detailed documentation, and constant coordination with engineers.
Rethinking Colors for Accessibility
The first major question:
How can we update the color palette without compromising readability or accessibility? The old colors were inconsistent and failed to meet WCAG standards. Users needed clarity, while engineers were concerned about implementation across hundreds of components.
To address this, I created a new palette aligned with brand identity and tested it for contrast and usability. I mapped each old color to a new accessible alternative and verified combinations in different contexts—text, icons, backgrounds. I then provided engineers with a live Figma file and a design token mapping, ensuring the new colors could be implemented consistently across the product. This approach allowed the rebrand to be applied safely without disrupting ongoing development.
Modernizing Typography Across Screens
Next, the typography update posed a tricky problem. Changing fonts can break layouts, alter readability, and affect hierarchy. How could I introduce a new typeface that worked across every screen?
I defined a scalable typography system with rules for headings, body text, buttons, and labels. Different weights and sizes were tested in real contexts to confirm readability and visual balance. I then created a comprehensive style guide paired with CSS variable references for engineers, enabling them to integrate the new fonts seamlessly. This ensured consistency while avoiding layout regressions.
Coordinating Rebrand With Active Feature Launches
⚠️ A critical challenge was timing:
The rebrand could not block ongoing feature development. How could I roll out updates without creating conflicts?
I mapped all components to their usage frequency and prioritized the most critical ones for early updates. Detailed documentation, including phased rollout instructions, Figma-to-code references, and edge case notes, helped engineers implement changes safely. Regular check-ins allowed us to address questions quickly, and I reviewed updates with developers in real time to catch any issues early. This coordination ensured both rebrand and feature releases stayed on schedule.
Testing and Validation
Would the new design system actually work in practice? To answer this, I selected representative screens for usability testing and WCAG contrast checks. Feedback guided iterative tweaks to colors, spacing, and component behavior. By validating the system in realistic workflows, I ensured that both usability and accessibility goals were met before full rollout.
Implementation and Delivery
Rolling out a full-scale rebrand while maintaining active features demanded meticulous planning. I maintained a live tracking system for all updates and dependencies, allowing engineers to reference component versions as needed. Any conflicts discovered during implementation were resolved through direct collaboration, paired reviews, and iterative adjustments. Ultimately, the rebrand and design system overhaul launched ahead of schedule with zero production errors.
Outcome 🚀
The rebrand proved to be more than a visual refresh, it delivered measurable improvements across accessibility, usability, and performance.
User experience gains
Session recordings and survey data reported a 21% decrease in navigation errors and a 17% rise in successful task completion within the first month.
Accessibility impact
Post-launch audits from the data analytics team showed WCAG 2.1 AA compliance across 100 percent of primary screens, with average contrast ratios increasing from 3.2:1 to 4.7:1.
Performance stability
Engineering telemetry confirmed page load times and rendering performance stayed within plus or minus 2 percent of pre-rebrand benchmarks, validating the tokenized color and typography system.
Operational efficiency
Internal support tickets for visual inconsistency fell from an average of 12 per week to zero after rollout.
Leadership highlighted the launch as one of the cleanest cross-team executions to date, and the customer success team now cites the accessibility improvements as a key differentiator in enterprise sales conversations. The rebrand shipped three days ahead of schedule while new feature releases continued without interruption, demonstrating that a full design system overhaul and an aggressive product roadmap can succeed side by side.
