Migrating 70+ Designers to Google Material 3
🔒 Disclaimer
Due to my NDA with Google, I can only share a high-level overview of this project. Visuals and specific implementation details have been omitted, but the summary below highlights my role, approach, and impact.
I led the redesign of an outdated design system, transitioning 70+ designers from GM2 to GM3. The previous system lacked scalability, didn’t align with evolving product frameworks, and forced designers to rely on workarounds and ad-hoc requests, which slowed delivery and created inconsistencies. By modernizing the system, I improved accessibility, visual consistency, and collaboration across multiple product teams.
Role: Designer
Team Size: 1 Designer + 1 Lead Designer + 2 Engineers
Tools: Figma
Duration: 6 weeks
Year: 2025
Major changes
M2: Lightweight, outline-based chips with minimal emphasis and subtle affordances.
M3: Filled chips with stronger hierarchy, clearer iconography, and improved visual contrast for accessibility.
Process
I had prior experience creating components, but never at this scale. Knowing the migration would impact 70+ designers, I spent days researching best practices for building within an existing framework rather than starting from scratch.
Initially, I wanted to build a brand-new system on an aggressive timeline for our merchant framework. But after research and exploration, I landed on a more efficient method: bringing in all GM3 variants, carefully breaking and re-adding components, tweaking them to fit our specific team branding, and consolidating them into a unified library.
A major goal of mine was to make the design process easier for everyone. I leaned heavily on Figma’s properties panel, which allows designers to customize components without introducing inconsistencies. Before my efforts, the system didn’t fully take advantage of properties. I implemented them across the library—enabling seamless toggling between mobile and desktop, dark and light modes, and multiple component variants.
To push flexibility further, I introduced booleans and variables, giving designers more control while keeping the system scalable and consistent. These improvements not only streamlined workflows but also reinforced adoption across the team.
Results & Impact
Unified 70+ designers under a modernized system
Reduced design inconsistencies across products
Decreased time it takes to find component variants
Improved collaboration and speed between design and engineering teams
Enhanced accessibility compliance and scalability for future growth
Challenges
Balancing immediate product needs with long-term system scalability
Ensuring smooth migration without disrupting ongoing projects
Encouraging adoption among teams with varying workflows