--- title: "Riyadh Air case study · Jinson Johny, IBM iX" description: "Jinson Johny joined Riyadh Air's app team at IBM iX in 2024 as a product designer, took over its design system, rebuilt it from December 2024 with a contribution model and automated reviews, and is now making it AI-ready while moving into design engineering." url: https://jinson.me/work/riyadh-air markdown: https://jinson.me/work/riyadh-air.md type: Article author: Jinson Johny (https://jinson.me/#person) updated: 2026-10-01 --- Riyadh Air · Aviation · 2024–now · In progress # From designing screens to running Riyadh Air's design system, and making it AI-ready Product Designer → Design System Manager → Design Engineer · By [Jinson Johny](https://jinson.me/about.md) · Updated Oct 2026 · 5 min read ## In short Since 2024, Jinson Johny has been Design System Manager for Riyadh Air's guest app with IBM iX in Dubai. He took over the design system, led a full revamp from December 2024, and is now making it AI-ready while his role moves into design engineering. Riyadh Air is a new Saudi airline; IBM's public case study cites 75+ systems connected through 1,800+ integrations. ## What did I do at Riyadh Air? I joined the guest app team in September 2024 as a product designer, working on screens. The design system was there, but nobody owned it, and inconsistency kept growing, so I took it over. From December 2024 I led a full revamp. Today the work covers four things: - **Process** · A contribution model, design check-ins and knowledge-transfer sessions: one pipeline from a request to the coded component. - **System** · Rebuilt on Figma variables, colour modes and component properties, with reviews automated by small plugins and AI skills. - **AI-ready** · Templates, slots and documentation in markdown, so AI tools design with the system instead of around it. - **Design engineering** · Contributing to the coded components in Storybook, with AI coding tools. ## Who did we work with? Beyond the design system, the team worked directly with the platform teams behind the tools and devices the app is built for. - **Apple** · Worked with Apple's team on native iOS experiences, so the app feels at home on the platform. · [Read more in the full case study](#full-case) - **Figma** · One-to-one sessions with Figma's team on using Figma across a large design team and library, including code components, code layers and templates. · [Read more in the full case study](#full-case) The thinking behind the work is in my articles [Why design systems need a "logic layer"](https://jinson.me/writing/figma-components-logic-layer.md) and [Design engineering is the new product design](https://jinson.me/writing/design-engineering-new-product-design.md). ## Full case study The Riyadh Air work is confidential and still in progress, so the full write-up is password-protected. [Email me for access.](mailto:hello@jinson.me?subject=Access%20to%20the%20Riyadh%20Air%20case%20study) Parts of this work are under NDA. Happy to walk you through the rest on a call: . - **Client:** Riyadh Air - **Agency:** IBM iX, Dubai - **Role:** Product Designer → Design System Manager → Design Engineer - **Timeline:** Sep 2024–now - **Surfaces:** Mobile app (iOS, Android) · In-flight entertainment - **Team:** 25+ designers, in a team of about 200 - **Tools:** Figma · Figma Make · custom Figma plugins · Storybook · Claude · IBM Bob · Codex - **Status:** In progress Public sources · [IBM case study ](https://www.ibm.com/case-studies/riyadh-air)· [IBM Newsroom, Dec 2025 ](https://newsroom.ibm.com/2025-12-08-riyadh-air-and-ibm-partner-to-launch-worlds-first-ai-native-airline)· [IBM Newsroom, Feb 2025 ](https://newsroom.ibm.com/2025-02-25-riyadh-air-and-ibm-to-build-ai-driven-enterprise,-to-elevate-guest-and-employee-experiences)· [IBM Newsroom, Nov 2023](https://newsroom.ibm.com/2023-11-06-Riyadh-Air-and-IBM-Sign-Collaboration-Agreement-to-Establish-Technology-Foundation-of-the-Digitally-Led-Airline) [Next · Design System Manager · ADNOC (Design system)](https://jinson.me/work/adnoc-design-system.md) --- **About the author.** Jinson Johny is a Dubai-based Design Engineer and Senior Product Designer for Design Systems and Design Ops at IBM iX. He is the creator of Deck (deck.is), a Figma-to-PowerPoint plugin used by 160,000+ designers since 2017, and .gui (dotgui.org), an open file format for user interfaces. Open to design engineering, design systems, DesignOps, AI design and product design roles in the UK (London) and remote. Contact: hello@jinson.me · [Open to work](https://jinson.me/hire.md) · [All pages](https://jinson.me/llms.txt)