Your design system should be a file, not a feeling

If you’ve asked an AI to build ten screens, you’ve probably seen ten slightly different apps. Different greys, different buttons, different spacing. The AI isn’t being careless. It just has nothing to stay consistent with.

Write it down once

A design.json file describes your style as creative direction: colours and when to use them, fonts and sizes, how buttons and cards look, and the principles behind it all.

json{
  "colors": { "ink": "#0B0B0B", "lime": "#DDF247" },
  "principles": ["Square buttons", "Lime is a block, not a tint"]
}

Then prove it on one screen

Before building real pages, ask the AI for a single showcase screen that uses every component. Check it on your actual phone. Fix the look there. It’s far cheaper than fixing thirty screens later.

1. Steal from references you love, then write down why you love them
2. Keep the rules short and opinionated
3. Point the AI at the file in every session

“Get the look right once, before you multiply it.”

Written by

Samuel Audu

I build real products with AI and teach the process in a live class. More about me