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How News UK developed a multi-brand design system | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

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News UK needed a unified design system for brands spanning print, digital, radio, and television, but its independently operated teams and fragmented tools made scaling difficult. By migrating to Figma, simplifying library management, and investing in education and advocacy, the company created a flexible system that supported brand differences while encouraging collaboration. The transition improved adoption substantially, including a 23-point increase in internal NPS during the first quarter.

Fragmented Tools and Independent Brands

  • News UK’s brands, including The Times and The Sun, historically had separate design organizations, product teams, and workflows.
  • The team attempted to combine Sketch, Abstract, Zeplin, and InVision, but the result was difficult to maintain.
  • Design-system updates could take days or weeks, and accommodating brand variations created thousands of styles.
  • Existing theming features became rigid and overly complex as product requirements expanded.
  • The launch of The Times radio station exposed how much support the design-systems team needed to provide, making the approach unsustainable.
  • News UK chose Figma to consolidate tools, centralize library management, and increase participation.

Building Adoption Through Education

  • The team recognized that successful adoption required cultural change, not just a new tool or library.
  • Design-system specialists personally configured designers’ Figma workspaces and provided onboarding.
  • Workshops and documentation covered:
    • Migrating files from Sketch
    • Structuring and managing files
    • Using components
    • Commenting and inspecting designs
    • Integrating tools such as Jira
  • Designers were encouraged to contribute component specifications and reusable patterns.
  • The team created Figma guidance tools to recommend components for common scenarios, such as onboarding users to a new product.
  • Designer advocates promoted best practices within product areas and acted as contacts between their teams and the design-systems group.

Supporting Multiple Brands at Scale

  • News UK completed its migration to Figma in a few weeks.
  • Designers shifted from viewing the design system as a burden to seeing it as a productivity aid.
  • Shared components could be given different brand themes, allowing one system to support distinct visual identities.
  • A custom Themer plugin helped teams experiment with and build components that worked across multiple brands.
  • Earlier collaboration and feedback reduced duplicated work and discouraged teams from reinventing existing solutions.
  • The system was rolled out across all product and design teams.

Measurable Results

  • Internal product teams increasingly adopted and contributed to the system.
  • News UK recorded a 23-point increase in its design-system NPS in the first quarter after introducing Figma.
  • Teams reported practical benefits while recognizing that the system would continue to evolve.

News UK’s experience shows that a scalable multi-brand design system depends on both flexible technology and sustained organizational engagement. Consolidating tools, supporting brand-specific themes, educating users, and appointing internal advocates can turn a centralized system into a shared platform rather than a constraint.