Material, But Better
Less system noise, more clarity — turning Material into something the product could actually use.
My contribution
DS audit
Component definition
Design-dev collab
System governance
The team
Deliverables
The What
The product relied on Material UI, a powerful but extensive design system.
In a data-heavy healthcare dashboard for PACE centers in the US, this quickly became a problem.
Too many components, too many variants, and too many ways to do the same thing.
Instead of enabling the team, the system was slowing everyone down.
Design decisions weren’t consistent, development wasn’t aligned, and the system felt bigger than the product actually needed.
The How
We started by auditing the entire system, identifying what was actually being used and what wasn’t.
From there, we removed unnecessary components and reduced variants to only what made sense for the product.
We then customized the remaining components to better fit the healthcare context, improving clarity and consistency across the UI.
At the same time, we worked closely with a developer to replicate and maintain these components in Storybook, creating a shared source of truth between design and development.
The result was a leaner, more focused design system — easier to use, faster to implement, and aligned with how the product actually works.
The Why
Because a design system should reduce complexity — not introduce more of it.
Material UI wasn’t the issue. The way it was being used was.
We needed to move from a generic, oversized system to something tailored, intentional, and easy to apply in a real product context.
Less options, better decisions.