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About me

I make design systems
that think like architects

Connecting the rigour of systematic design with the ambition of AI-powered products.

Colin Summers
Design Architect

Systematic thinker. Strategic designer.

I'm Colin Summers, a design architect based in Scotland, bridging two worlds that rarely speak the same language: rigorous systematic design and the wild frontier of AI-powered products.

For the past decade, I've led design systems at scale. I've built component libraries, defined token architectures, driven adoption across design/engineering teams, and convinced executives that a well-structured design system is a competitive advantage.

Then AI changed everything, and I realised that all of that systems thinking is exactly what the AI era needs. Not just prettier interfaces, but structured design architectures that intelligent systems can reason about, build from, and scale with.

That's my focus now. Helping teams build the design foundations that AI needs to work well, and that people need to trust it.

Work with me → LinkedIn
The journey

Then & now

Two distinct eras of work, one clear through-line: making complex things work beautifully at scale.

2014 — 2023

Design Systems Lead

Built and led design systems from the ground up. Scaled component libraries, defined token architectures, and drove cross-team adoption in complex product environments.

  • Led the FreeStyle Design System — full component library, documentation, and adoption strategy
  • Modernised legacy UI kits, cutting design-to-dev handoff time significantly
  • Unified brand and product design languages across multiple product lines
  • Built systematic patterns for data visualisation, tables, forms, and complex interactions
  • Championed accessibility and inclusive design at the system level
  • Mentored designers in systems thinking and component-first approaches
2024 → Now

Design Architect for AI/LLMs

Applying a decade of systems thinking to the most interesting design challenge of our generation, building design that work alongside, and for AI.

  • Architecting design systems that are AI-interpretable and LLM-ready
  • Defining token and semantic structures that AI can reason about and generate from
  • Helping product teams understand where design creates trust in AI interactions
  • Exploring human-centred frameworks for AI-generated and AI-assisted interfaces
  • Building the structural bridge between design intent and machine execution
  • Positioning design as a strategic layer in AI product architecture
Skills & expertise

What I bring

Design Systems
AI/LLM Architecture
Component Design
Design Tokens
Product Strategy
Front-end Dev
Design Leadership
UX Research
Data Visualisation
Accessibility
Figma
Prompt Design
Systematic Thinking
Team Enablement
Documentation
Design Governance
Beyond the screen

The human behind the system

⚽

Football & running

I play and watch football, and run when the weather allows. Mostly a way to think about nothing for a while.

📚

Always reading

Design, AI, history, food — anything that holds my attention. It's where a lot of ideas come from.

👨‍👧‍👧

Dad of two

Two daughters, one wife, one dog. Based in the Scotland. The rest of the time is accounted for.

Sound like someone you want to build with?

Let's talk →