How Carvana Fuels Consistency and Scale | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Carvana scaled its design operations by moving from scattered tools to Figma as a centralized source of truth. Its design systems team uses Figma variables to enforce consistency, support rapid rebranding, and reduce design-development friction. The approach helped Carvana adapt quickly during rapid growth and integrate acquired businesses such as ADESA.

Creating a Single Source of Truth

• By 2019, Carvana’s design system was fragmented across a PDF UI kit, Principle, and Sketch.
• Designers relied heavily on copying and pasting, causing small changes to diverge across repeated components.
• Moving the system to Figma centralized libraries and connected design and engineering workflows.
• The transition became especially valuable during the pandemic, when car sales surged and Carvana needed to scale quickly without adding process friction.

Using Variables to Improve Consistency

• Rapid growth introduced inconsistencies in:
  • Colors
  • Spacing
  • Typography
  • Corner radii
• Figma variables let Carvana define reusable values for design properties.
• Number variables standardized spacing and corner radii, while color variables helped maintain brand accuracy.
• Although setting up variables required an initial learning period, the team achieved more polished designs and fewer revision cycles.

Supporting New Brands and Business Lines

• Variables allowed Carvana to create new themes without rebuilding its component library.
• After acquiring ADESA, Carvana added an ADESA theme and applied the new branding to existing designs quickly.
• The redesign took less than a week instead of the estimated month required to restyle the component library manually.
• Themed components also enabled the team to create ADESA design comprehensives three times faster than usual.

Connecting Design and Development

• Figma’s shared libraries and variable-based system help designers and developers work from the same standards.
• Centralized component structure and functionality make handoffs clearer and reduce inconsistencies between design files and implementation.
• Carvana’s 40-person design systems team uses these practices to support consistency across a 10,000-person organization.

Carvana’s experience suggests that a centralized design system, combined with reusable variables and themes, can make rapid growth more manageable. Investing in the system early reduces rework while making future products, brands, and acquisitions faster to integrate.