VA.gov Design System Audit & Alignment
OVERVIEW
During the myHealtheVet stand-alone site migration to the umbrella of VA.gov, The Office of the Chief Technical Officer (OCTO) required the VA Design System (VADS) to align with the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) Version 3.
I identified cross-system drift and independently executed a deep audit to surface and remediate inconsistencies.
ROLE
UX/UI Designer
Design Systems
SCOPE
- Reviewed VADS component library and real-world component usage
- Result: One-third of components required updates.
- Primary deltas: color tokens, typography, iconography, spacing, and component anatomy
- Meticulous manual review of three active design system resources and their implementations:
ACTIONS
- Conducted structured component-by-component audit
- Built a detailed discrepancy matrix for governance
- Delivered findings to OCTO design system team
- Updated all affected components in our local Figma library
- Reviewed changes with WCAG / Section 508 awareness
IMPACT
- Helped drive full VADS alignment with USWDS v3
- Reduced risk of visual and token drift across VA.gov
- Improved fidelity of myHealtheVet migration work
- Findings were merged into official VADS updates
- Established a repeatable audit model for future standards shifts
Why It Matters
At federal scale, small design system mismatches multiply quickly. This proactive audit strengthened the technical foundation of VA.gov during a critical modernization effort and prevented outdated patterns from propagating into production.