Design once.
Scale everywhere.
A modular design system that powers Tim Hortons, Popeyes, and global tools, sharing complex components while preserving brand uniqueness.
Role: Product Designer
Scope: Tim Hortons, Popeyes, and Global Tools
Partners: Design and Engineering
Core Users: Design and Engineering
Context
As Tim Hortons, Popeyes, and global tools evolved, teams were rebuilding the same features with inconsistent results. A shared design system was created to unify core products, accelerate delivery, and support rapid brand switching at every level of the interface.
The Problem
Separate Systems.
No Communication.
No single source of truth across design systems
Slow process to replicate existing tools across brands
High maintenance overhead
Constraints That Shaped the System
Balance shared structure with brand-level customization
Align designers and engineers around consistent standards
Enable fast brand switching while reusing components
Create a system that scales across tools, teams, and brands
What We Built
Shared Foundations
Variables & themes
Atoms & molecules of component combinations
Core patterns for navigation and complex data
System Patterns
Clear component hierarchy and documentation
Simplified theme switching for developers
Source vs brand-specific component model
Reusable Workflows
Pre-built user flows and actions
Page-level templates
Micro-kits of component cells
Decisions That Enabled Scale
Separate Structure from Brand
Built source components once, layered brand themes on top
Enabled full brand switching down to nested components in seconds
Design for Speed, Not Perfection
Delivered design-ready components first, dev-ready where it mattered
Optimized for iteration, reuse, and momentum over pixel-complete specs
Results
75%
Faster Delivery
Accelerated timelines for the first project
46+
New Components
Initial components for design use
40+
Dev Ready Pages
Documented states and behaviors
10+
New Patterns Implemented
Strategies applied across the shared library
Why This System Lasted
Designed for long-term evolution with clear ownership and extensible foundations, enabling the system to grow with new products while maintaining consistency.
