Keara Meehan | Design Systems for B2B SaaS

Design systems for teams that outgrew their Figma library.

I audit, build, and evolve design systems for B2B SaaS teams without a dedicated systems function. Usually one designer, a lot of engineers, and a library that made sense a year ago.

The problem

There's usually already a system. Components, some tokens, a Figma library that made sense a year ago. It's just not holding. New screens start from scratch. Engineers ship around the library because it's faster. And there's exactly one of you.

The work isn't more components. It's figuring out why the system stopped holding, and structuring it so that stops happening.

How I think

The measure of a system is whether engineers reach for it or route around it.

Engineers reaching for it is the metric.

A system nobody uses isn't a system, it's a Figma file. The measure is whether engineers grab your components or route around them. Everything else on this page exists for that.

Tokens are the source of truth.

Colors, spacing, type, radii. Decisions live in tokens and everything else derives. Change one decision, the product follows.

Audit before building.

You're not starting from zero. Something stopped working, and building more components on top of it just buries the problem. First we find out why it stopped.

Documentation is part of the component.

Not a follow-up task. A component an engineer can't use without asking you isn't done.

Governance beats component count.

Fifteen maintained components beat a hundred orphans. The system needs an owner, a contribution path, and a way to say no.

Structured systems are what AI can read.

I use Claude Code, Cursor, and MCP tooling daily. Clean token architecture isn't just good practice anymore, it's what makes your system legible to agents. If your tokens are clean, an agent can build with your system instead of around it.

proof

SMB.co

SMB.co was scaling their product and building every screen from scratch. I built the design system they could actually build on. Token architecture, component library, docs, handoff.

View the case study

A system you can read end to end

I'm building a public reference system. Token architecture, 15+ components in light and dark, documentation written for engineers, a governance model, and the reasoning behind every decision. Every layer open. Most client systems live behind NDAs. This one won't.

"Keara built our first real design system and gave us a foundation we could truly build on! It was exactly what we needed at that stage. She was great to work with (very communicative) and made the handoff incredibly easy."

Joe Brown
CEO & Co-Founder, SMB.co

"Keara came in and built out design system foundations for a multi-surface product redesign in a really tight window. Her component work was clean, scalable, and accessible. She picked up the brand quickly and really understood how to translate it into a working system. Strong Figma chops, great instincts, asked the right questions early. She was easy to work with, adapted fast, and brought a steady energy to a fast-moving project. Would absolutely work with her again."

Mars Tovar
Founder & Creative Director, Gridhaus Studio

How it works

One person, the whole way through.

The person who audits your system is the person who builds it, and the person still answering questions in month three. No account team, no handoff, no junior doing the actual work.

Engagements start with an audit. Something in your system stopped working, and we find out why before building anything. From there: token architecture, components, documentation, and a governance model your team can actually run without me.

About

I care about the details. How something looks, how it works, and whether it actually helps people accomplish what they need to do. I specialize in the design infrastructure most teams can't build on their own: token architecture, multi-brand theming, component libraries that actually get adopted.

Based in Chicago. When I'm not working, you'll find me exploring new restaurants with my wife, working out, volunteering at my local animal rescue, or working through my reading list. We share our home with a dog, two cats (and fish!) who are our best buds.

Working on a system that's starting to slip?

Send me an email at hello@keara.design and let's chat about it.