Corpus
Building Quin’s Design System for consistency, collaboration, and innovation in healthcare
Quin | Amsterdam 2021 - 2023
About Quin
Quin develops digital tools to make healthcare more accessible by improving the connection between GP practices, specialized care, and patients. By simplifying care pathways, Quin helps healthcare providers manage the increasing demands in an overburdened sector.
Business challenge
Before we began this project, Quin had a strong brand and a wealth of visual assets supporting a range of innovative products. However, as the product landscape evolved, maintaining consistency across platforms became increasingly difficult. Design decisions were made in silos, and collaboration across teams was fragmented. We realized that to scale efficiently, we needed more than just tools—we needed a unified design system to provide structure, improve workflows, and allow Quin’s healthcare solutions to evolve with future needs.
Our goal was ambitious yet clear: to create a self-sustaining system that would enable teams to design, develop, and maintain a consistent user experience across all products and platforms—quickly and at scale. This project was a deeply collaborative effort with talented designers, developers, and product teams, all working together to bring Corpus to life.
Approach
To fully understand the scope of the challenge, we conducted a platform audit, reviewed existing workflows, and gathered feedback from designers, developers, and end users.
Component & Pattern Audit: Review of existing UI components revealed redundancy and inconsistencies.
Asset Inventory: Evaluation of design assets uncovered gaps and duplication.
Stakeholder Challenges: Identified key pain points through cross-team discussions.
Design System Workshop: Collaborative session to align on needs and define solutions.
Key-insights
Through this process, we learned that:
Scalability required structured foundations
A semantic design token system was necessary to ensure adaptability, accessibility, and maintainability.Consistency comes from shared guidelines
Unified documentation and reusable components were key to improving efficiency.Quality needed a systematic approach
Redesigning core components would lift the overall design quality while making the platform more scalable.Collaboration was just as important as structure
Bridging gaps between design and development required a shift in how we worked together.
This insight guided our process, helping us not only identify pain points but also shape solutions that fit the needs of the team.
My role
As part of the design team, I played a key role in shaping Corpus, ensuring usability, accessibility, and scalability for both designers and developers. I led the design token strategy together with a developer, defined reusable component structures, established documentation standards, and facilitated cross-team collaboration to improve the design-to-development handoff.
Working closely with developers, product managers, and designers, the design system was continuously refined and tested, and implementation validated. This iterative approach ensured that Corpus was not just a design initiative but a fully integrated system that teams could rely on.
Introducing Corpus Design System
Inspired by the term “corpus” (meaning the main body or structure), Corpus Design System became the foundation for scalable, user-centered product development at Quin.
Just as a corpus provides structure and unity, the Corpus Design System unites everyone involved in product development together around clear standards and principles, anchored by user needs and the business problem we are trying to solve.
How Corpus delivers on this mission
Design tokens ensure consistent styling and effortless theming across interfaces.
Reusable components, built with tokens, provide a modular, adaptable library for flexible design and development.
Component patterns offer specialized UI solutions tailored to platform-specific requirements.
Collaborative frameworks to streamline workflows, connecting Figma designs directly to codebases for efficiency.
Comprehensive documentation captures all design decisions, principles, and processes, acting as a shared source of truth.
One system, two products
Corpus supports both Quin’s platforms:
Quin Pro: A tool for healthcare professionals.
Consumer app: A patient-facing application.
With shared principles, guidelines, components, and theme styles, Corpus enables scalable, visually distinct, yet cohesive experiences across both platforms.
Outcomes
Corpus transformed how Quin’s products were designed and built, creating a scalable, efficient, and enjoyable workflow for both designers and developers.
Consistency and quality at scale
Design tokens replaced hardcoded values, ensuring the final product matched designs across platforms.More time for meaningful work
With UI decisions systemized, teams could focus on UX, innovation, and future-proofing code instead of repetitive tasks.Better collaboration & efficiency
A shared system reduced redundancies, streamlined workflows, and made the product easier and more enjoyable to work with.Stronger user experiences
A platform built on semantic structure and clear conventions resulted in more intuitive user experiences.
By embedding structure and collaboration into the process, Corpus not only improved how we worked—it elevated what we built.
Reflection
Investing in Corpus was an important moment for Quin. It addressed critical challenges and set a strong foundation for future growth. Aligning teams and securing stakeholder buy-in wasn’t easy, but the persistence paid off.
One of the most rewarding aspects of this project was improving collaboration between design and development. Early on, miscommunication slowed us down, but as we worked closely to build a shared system, we fostered trust, efficiency, and better workflows. I learned how crucial open communication and early alignment are. Not just for a successful product, but for an enjoyable work process.
However, a design system is never truly “finished.” Its structure depends on the team maintaining it, and as Quin’s products evolve, Corpus must evolve too. The real success of the system is not just in its launch but in its adoption, adaptability, and the culture of collaboration it continues to foster.
This project was a huge learning experience, not just in building a design system, but in the power of alignment, iteration, and teamwork. I’m grateful to have been part of it.
