Marjorie Lazaro

Product Manager · Design Systems and Internal Platforms

A design system is only as good as its adoption.

Seven years on the same product at Desjardins, from its first foundations to 25 teams served, 150 designers and 1,000 developers. Fifteen years of front-end and UX before that. I take on remote engagements, in English and French.

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Proof

Desjardins' design system, in numbers

What the product serves today, and what it took to get there.

  • 25product teams onboarded since 2021, across around ten web and mobile applications
  • 1,000+developers and over 150 designers served by the system
  • 90components shipped: 60 web and 30 native, on a monthly and quarterly cadence
  • 75%design-code parity across all libraries
  • 75%WCAG coverage across all libraries
  • 35%estimated time savings for designers and developers

Work

Three engagements, and what was decided

A product role is judged on the decisions made and on what they produced. These are the three that matter most.

From a component library to a product adopted by 25 teams

Desjardins · 2019 to today

Context

Joined in 2019 as senior advisor to lay the foundations: conventions, first components, accessibility. A component library only becomes a product when someone owns its vision, its cadence and its contribution model.

Decisions

  • A prioritized vision and roadmap, from discovery to production deployment.
  • A predictable release cadence: monthly for web, quarterly for native.
  • Dual-track governance: a dedicated design-engineering team, open to contribution from product teams.
  • Methodology, pattern and component documentation written for business subject-matter experts.

Results

  • 60 web components and 30 native components.
  • 25 teams onboarded since 2021, around ten applications.
  • Over 150 designers and 1,000 developers served.
  • Estimated 35% time savings.

Design-code parity and accessibility, measured rather than promised

Desjardins · since 2021

Context

A design system where Figma and code drift apart loses the trust of both sides, designers and developers alike. The same goes for accessibility: a commitment nobody measures commits nobody.

Decisions

  • Automated design token migration between Figma and code, so there is a single source of truth.
  • Design-code parity and WCAG coverage tracked as product metrics, library by library.
  • Accessibility treated as a component requirement, not a downstream fix.

Results

  • Design-code parity raised to 75%.
  • WCAG coverage raised to 75% across all libraries.
  • A shared base that 25 teams can build on without revalidating each component.

The first design system for ici.radio-canada.ca

Radio-Canada · 2017 to 2019

Context

Lead front-end developer, heading around fifteen developers across five teams. Five teams shipping the same site need a common base and shared standards.

Decisions

  • Implemented the site's first design system, documented in Storybook.
  • Defined front-end development standards, applied across the five teams.
  • Technical direction of around fifteen developers.

Results

  • A documented design system shared by all five teams.
  • The starting point of seven years specializing in design systems.

What I offer

Three ways to work together

For a team that has a design system or an internal platform, or wants to start one.

  1. Maturity audit

    Know where your system stands, and what to do first

    A proprietary grid of 68 checkpoints across 7 dimensions: foundations and tokens, components, design-code parity, accessibility, documentation, adoption, governance. Each checkpoint is scored on a 0 to 4 maturity scale and weighted by criticality. You leave with a diagnosis and a prioritized action plan.

    Fixed fee · About three weeks

  2. Framing and kick-off

    Start or restart a design system on solid ground

    Vision, roadmap, contribution and governance model, first components and tracking metrics. The same work I did at Desjardins in 2019, with seven more years of hindsight.

    Defined engagement · Duration by scope

  3. Ongoing product ownership

    Carry the product over time, with your teams

    Product ownership of your design system or internal platform: prioritization, release cadence, governance, adoption measurement, and the relationship with the teams that use it. Part-time or full-time.

    Ongoing · Part-time or full-time

  • Fully remote
  • Eastern time (UTC-4)
  • English and French
  • Self-employed

Background

From practitioner to product owner

Twenty years on the web: graphic design, front-end, UX, then seven years on a single design system, up to owning it as a product.

  1. Since 2026

    Design System Audit Consultant · Independent practice, remote

    Proprietary assessment grid: 68 checkpoints across 7 dimensions, on a 0 to 4 maturity scale weighted by criticality, producing a prioritized action plan.

  2. Since 2021

    Product Owner, Design System · Desjardins, Montréal

    Vision, roadmap and prioritization. Libraries of 60 web and 30 native components. Design-code parity and WCAG coverage at 75%. Automated token migration. Dual-track governance.

  3. 2019 to 2020

    Technical Lead, Design System · Desjardins

    Technical direction of the component library and implementation standards. Transitioned into the product owner role between June and December 2020.

  4. 2019

    Senior Advisor, Design System · Desjardins

    Feasibility studies, architecture and foundations of the system: conventions, first components and accessibility.

  5. 2017 to 2019

    Lead Front-End Developer · Radio-Canada, ici.radio-canada.ca

    Led around fifteen developers across five teams. The site's first design system, documented in Storybook. Development standards.

  6. 2007 to 2017

    Independent front-end and UX consultant · Montréal

    Metro (front-end lead, metro.ca), FIS Global (responsive UI framework), Desjardins (Caisse scolaire), Brunet, Stock-Trak / WallStreetSurvivor, Kung Fu Numerik, Courant Alternatif. UX Designer at Amilia (2010 to 2011) and an audit of the Fait Chez Nous website in beta.

  7. 2003 to 2006

    Graphic designer and webmaster · allisNet, France

Certifications

2026
Professional Scrum Product Owner II (PSPO II), Scrum.org
2024
Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I), Scrum.org

Education

2006
Master's in Multimedia Creation Engineering and Art Direction, Université de Nice, France
2000
DUT in Communication Services and Networks (two-year university technical diploma), IUT de Nice, France

Contact

Let's talk about your design system

An email or a LinkedIn message is all it takes. I reply in English or French, on Eastern time.