Chris Znerold Product + Brand Systems · AI Design Engineering

Built on Bonfire

Creative director for Outdoorsy, 2022 to 2024

Strategy:

Outdoorsy came to Stay Gold after a larger agency’s attempt had stalled. One engagement covered the brand refresh, the design system and the host tooling on both.

Design:

‘Bonfire’ is one set of Figma Tokens run through Style Dictionary into GitHub, feeding web, iOS, Android, email and marketing. A colour changed once changes everywhere.

Leadership:

I was head of brand and product at Stay.Gold, embedded at Outdoorsy as the DRI for design. Engineering and design adopted the system at 100 percent. Started 2022, launched 2023, scaled 2024.

System

Bonfire, in parts.

The Figma Tokens plugin pushes a commit to the tokens repository, Style Dictionary compiles it, and every platform pulls the result. The brand layer sits in the same file.

Colour and typeBrother 1816 and Abril Titling.
Tokens to codeFigma to GitHub, one push.
Documentation, in Figma439 components, 104 styles.
Four cards from the system overview: Pattern Design Library, Tokenization and Automation, Documentation Powered Design, Pattern Language Design Themes
The partsPatterns, tokens, documentation, themes.
Experience principlesGrowing, evolving, progressive.
Host personasFifteen host interviews, drawn up.

Product in Hand

The phone cannot drift from the web.

A confirmed booking, then an insights screen with revenue per booking. Every colour and radius on it is a token, so the phone and the web dashboard cannot drift apart.

Two phones: a confirmed booking conversation with a guest named Haley, and an insights screen showing $7,034.75 total revenue, an average of $2,344.92 per booking and a revenue chart

Product in Life

Good morning, Alex.

Fifteen host interviews, eight surveys, six usability tests and 42 support-ticket data points came down to control, communication, trust and pride. One screen answers them.

A laptop with the host dashboard: Good morning, Alex, twelve upcoming trips, $4,280 earned month to date, 68 percent occupancy, a June calendar, the next trip and recent messages

Product in Culture

Proven on the second product.

A system is only a system once a second product runs on it. The same tokens re-themed Roamly, the insurance venture, then the glamping stays. A 2023 finalist for zeroheight’s Design System of the Year.

0%Adoption

Every engineer and designer, on the one token source.

0Components

104 styles in one Figma file, Style Dictionary into GitHub.

Position:

Head of Brand & Product at Stay.Gold

Services:

Brand, system, tooling

Partner:

Outdoorsy

Status:

Launched, 2023