The New York State Design System enables teams to build accessible, mobile-friendly, and user-centered digital services for millions of residents. It provides a robust library of components, design tokens, and learning resources to accelerate delivery and improve quality across agencies. Since its launch, the system has shipped frequent updates, supported thousands of design instances in Figma, and integrated directly with code repositories. By standardizing design and development practices, it ensures that state services are not only consistent and visually cohesive but also inclusive, scalable, and easy to use.

To address inefficiencies in the design workflow, the team introduced a technique that bridges low-fidelity wireframing in FigJam with high-fidelity prototyping in Figma. Traditionally, designers and analysts faced slow, error-prone handoffs, with stakeholders resistant to wireframing due to perceived duplication of work. The solution uses a fidelity routing layer applied to Figma Variables, enabling components to seamlessly shift between low, medium, and high fidelity modes. This allows wireframes built in FigJam to be instantly transformed into polished mockups without rework. The innovation reduces friction, speeds up iteration, and ensures system-aligned components are used from the earliest stages of ideation. It also empowers non-designers to contribute meaningfully to product exploration within the same ecosystem of tools.

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This approach has fundamentally changed the UX workflow, eliminating the disconnect between early ideas and production-ready design. By allowing teams to design once and switch fidelity with a click, it reduces wasted effort, accelerates prototyping, and increases adoption of system components. Stakeholder resistance to wireframing has diminished, as the process no longer creates duplication. Designers and analysts report higher velocity and greater collaboration, while developers benefit from consistent, code-ready outputs. The technique is scalable and adaptable across industries, demonstrating how lightweight, token-driven solutions can deliver significant returns in efficiency, consistency, and accessibility for digital product teams.