One product, three platforms, zero consistency
MetaMap is a white label KYC software: clients integrate the SDK into their own apps, and their end users rely on it to verify sensitive documents — ID cards, passports, bank statements. In this context, any friction in the flow hurts the client's metrics, and losing the client's end users means, for MetaMap, losing the client itself.
The SDK was cross-platform — Android, iOS, and mobile web — but each platform was built by a different team. The result: staggered, slower releases and a fragmented user experience. After shipping a couple of features as Senior Product Designer, the picture was clear to me: screens disconnected from one another (logo sometimes at the top, sometimes at the bottom), primary actions barely prominent or missing entirely, unclear paths to the next step. An inconsistency that became even more evident when comparing platforms side by side.
The initiative nobody asked for
What was needed was an initiative that cut across features: something that could embrace every screen of the mobile SDK, fixing usability issues and increasing visual consistency, with a direct impact on product metrics — average flow completion time and drop-off rate.
Nobody assigned me this task: I identified it, defined it, and proposed it myself. The challenge wasn't just a design one, but an organizational one — earning buy-in from the C-suite and coordinating three independent development teams.
From a Figma fork to a C-suite keynote
1. I built the design solution. Starting from the Design team's approval, I created a Figma fork of the existing Design System and renamed it the Mobile SDK Design System: typography, palette, and atoms stayed untouched, plus the layout guidelines that were missing:
Client logo, contextual options like language switching, minimal navigation to close the app or go back.
Instructions, visual guides, and the tools needed to complete tasks: camera with overlay for document scanning, digital signature field.
The primary actions: proceed to the next step, upload documents.
2. I translated design into business language. My freelance experience had taught me that talking about usability wouldn't lead to adoption. So I reframed the storytelling: the design system as a tool to cut feature release time in half — the same approach Airbnb and IBM used to reduce release times by 50%. This became the core argument of a keynote I presented to the CPO, CTO, and COO during an offsite in Bangalore.
3. I led the execution. The keynote led to the creation of a dedicated working group with the Engineering Managers of the three platforms, coordinated by me, with weekly alignments on Slack and in meetings. Figma files, guidelines, and walkthrough sessions removed doubts the dev teams had been carrying for years — taking the guess out of development.
Half the time, twice the consistency
Impact
Beyond the numbers, the lesson I carry with me: design gets resources when it speaks the language of business. I didn't sell visual consistency — I sold speed.