Obelisco: A Design System for the City
The Challenge
How do you design a flexible, inclusive design system that supports dozens of public projects in a rapidly changing environment?
During the pandemic, I led a team responsible for more than 15 digital projects. One of our priorities was to develop a shared visual and functional language for government services. This became Obelisco: the design system for the City of Buenos Aires.
We needed a collaborative, accessible system that could help different teams—from design to development—build cohesive digital experiences.
Outcomes
Launched the first version of Obelisco (publicly available on GitHub):
https://gcba.github.io/estandares/
Delivered a system of reusable components and guidelines
Enabled cross-team collaboration with shared processes
Increased accessibility and design consistency across services
Our Approach
We designed and delivered two hands-on workshops focused on purpose-driven project development:
Formed a dedicated design system cell within the team
Mapped recurring issues in existing digital products
Defined principles, components, and documentation
Created a workflow that integrated internal and external teams
Key Learnings
A fully dedicated team is essential to build and maintain a design system
Having a clear capsule (narrative + assets) helps attract allies and scale adoption
Being tech-agnostic improves flexibility and team diversity
Who This Is For
Public digital transformation leaders
Organizations scaling design systems
Civic tech consultants and cross-functional design ops teams
Looking to build or scale your public design system? Let's talk.