When T. Rowe Price's design system team found themselves struggling with adoption and growth, they didn't turn to another design framework or development methodology. Instead, they completely reimagined their approach by treating their design system a product - complete with sales, marketing, and customer service functions. The results transformed not just their system, but how the entire organisation approached design and development.

The Challenge

Like many organisations, T. Rowe Price's design system began with a small but passionate team. Quickly, the team faced the classic challenge of ensuring that people were using the system, which was a distraction since so much work still needed to be done. However, without large scale adoption, ongoing funding would be a challenge.

The Product Solution

Rather than viewing their design system as just another technical project, the team made a radical shift in perspective. They reimagined their entire operation as a business entity where:

• The design system and its tooling became their product
• Application teams around the organisation became their users
• The design system team became their workforce
• Organisational leaders became external stakeholders

With a new mindset in place the team set about delivering on the new way of working.

Step 1: Secure Funding

The initial design system was created by inner-sourcing (aka borrowing) capacity from other teams. This allowed them to deliver a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) design system that achieved two critical goals:

1. Showcased Immediate Value: By addressing key pain points, the system gained early adopters.
2. Secured Buy-In: Leaders were convinced of its strategic importance, leading to full funding through a single department.

The transition from MVP to fully funded initiative took over a year, but this gradual approach reduced resistance and built credibility. Today, the design system enjoys financial stability and continuous growth.

Step 2: Prioritising

Design systems encompass all of the components across the organisations digital properties which can make it hard to identify where to prioritise effort. Instead of arbitrarily deciding which components to develop, the team relied on metrics to guide their efforts.

The process involved comparing how long it would take internal teams to build a component versus how long it would take the design system team. They also estimated the number of users who would benefit from each component. This approach ensured that only high-value components were prioritised, optimising resource allocation and eliminating wasted effort.

In the early days, when data was scarce, the team employed a simple rule of thumb: if at least three consumers needed a component, it was worth building. As the design system matured, they refined their decision-making with more sophisticated data, further aligning their roadmap with real organisational needs.

Step 3: Marketing

A design system’s success hinges on its adoption. The team used multiple communication channels, including newsletters, Teams chats, and dedicated showcase events, to keep users informed and engaged. For example, they would send out regular updates about new features, deployment schedules, and even demo videos tailored to specific user groups like developers, designers, and product managers.

This targeted approach made it easier for teams to understand the value of the design system and how it could solve their unique challenges. However, the team needed to balance informing people with overwhelming them - nobody wants their product to be viewed as spam!

Step 4: Expansion

With adoption growing, the team expanded beyond their initial focus on web components into mobile solutions and content authoring tools.

For example, the team collaborated with the Adobe Experience Manager group within the organisation. By integrating the design system’s components into Adobe’s authoring environment, they enabled content creators to drag and drop pre-built elements into their workflows. This partnership streamlined processes and increased the design system’s value proposition.

Instead of maintaining separate systems, they were able to rationalise effort, improve quality and save costs.

Success brings challenges

As the design system matured, managing the growing number of requests and user needs became a challenge. To address this, the team focused on scalability by implementing robust customer service processes.

A key element was the creation of a centralised support workflow using Jira Service Management. This system replaced the previous GitLab-based process, which was too technical for many users. By making it easier for teams to submit feature requests and report issues, the design system team improved user satisfaction and gained valuable insights to inform future development.

Proactive feedback loops also played a critical role. The team began sending out surveys at key touchpoints, such as after onboarding or resolving a defect. These surveys provided actionable insights that helped the team continuously refine the design system.

The Results

The product-centric approach yielded impressive outcomes:

• The design system became an essential part of the firm's design and development strategy
• They expanded their product suite from web to mobile and content authoring solutions
• Data insights now guide all component development decisions
• Team members gained more growth opportunities and clear career advancement paths

Perhaps most impressively, the team built innovation into their DNA. They established an innovation program that allocated eight hours per sprint for developers to work on system improvements. The program was so successful that it generated more ideas than they could implement, eventually leading them to restructure their entire capacity planning to incorporate innovation time alongside business needs and support.

By treating their design system as a product, T. Rowe Price has not only built a tool but also created a thriving ecosystem that drives efficiency, innovation, and growth across the organisation. The result is a design system that doesn’t just support the business—it propels it forward.

You can watch the full case study from Alex Wilson here: