Designing a scalable UI builder.

At Appsmith, I worked across product design and design systems, helping shape the UI builder used to create internal applications.

I designed complex builder experiences, widget interactions and property controls, while also leading parts of ADS 2.0 — Appsmith's design system.

Role: Product Designer · Design Systems Lead
Scope: UI Builder · Widgets · Design Systems

Building a UI builder means designing for thousands of possible interfaces — not just one.

As Appsmith scaled, more widgets, properties and use cases increased product complexity. At the same time, inconsistencies between design and code made it harder for teams to ship cohesive experiences.

The challenge was to make a powerful builder easier to use while creating a system that could scale with the product.

I redesigned key parts of the builder experience, focusing on how users discover, configure and interact with widgets.

This included improving the property pane architecture, introducing property search and establishing reusable interaction patterns across widgets.

Instead of solving individual screens, I designed patterns that could work across the entire builder.

Alongside the product work, I helped evolve the Appsmith Design System, creating a stronger foundation of tokens, variables and reusable components.

I contributed to 25+ components, defining anatomy, states, variants and behaviours while working closely with engineering to keep Figma, Storybook and production aligned.

The work created a more consistent builder experience and a stronger foundation for teams to design and ship at scale.

More importantly, it connected product design, design systems and engineering into one workflow — reducing one-off decisions and making consistency part of how the product was built.

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