Aurora Design: Building a Design System That Scales

Why Aurora Had to Exist

While working on the Cult app, one thing we kept running into again and again was this problem. As the product kept growing, the experience started becoming inconsistent.

Cult was no longer just about workouts. It had expanded into so many areas like mental wellness, nutrition, and more. Each of these had different user journeys, different needs, and often, slightly different designs. Over time, we realized we were solving the same design problems again and again, but in different ways across teams.

This led to something we could not ignore anymore. The experience started feeling disconnected.

That’s when we knew we needed a stronger foundation. Not just small design fixes, but a complete rethink of how we design products at scale.

That is how Aurora started.

Defining the Language

Aurora is the design language we built for Cult. But it’s more than just how things look. It’s a system that helps us create consistent, scalable, and better user experiences across all our products.

When we started working on Aurora, we didn’t jump straight into designing screens. We explored a lot first. We looked at some of the best global fitness apps, studied patterns, tested different styles, and gathered feedback continuously.

One interesting thing we noticed was that users naturally connected with darker, more immersive interfaces. That aligned well with our brand, so we leaned into it and kept refining from there.

Eventually, we arrived at a style that felt right.

Aurora is inspired by the northern lights. It uses a dynamic background that feels alive and active, instead of static and flat. This helped us reduce visual monotony and make the experience feel more energetic and engaging.

But we were careful with it. Too much movement can be distracting. So we spent a lot of time fine tuning motion to make sure it adds to the experience, not takes away from it.

Another important decision we made was around surfaces and layouts. Instead of heavy, solid blocks, we introduced softer, glass-like elements. This made the interface feel lighter and more open, while still keeping everything readable and structured.

We also started thinking of motion in a different way. Not just as something that looks good, but something that helps users understand what’s happening. Smooth transitions, subtle animations, and clear feedback became an important part of the experience.

Turning It into a System

But designing a visual language was only half the job.

The real challenge was scaling it.

We had multiple products, multiple teams, and a lot of existing screens. So we needed a way to make Aurora easy to use and consistent everywhere.

That’s where the design system came in.

We built Aurora as a full design system. A shared library of components, patterns, and guidelines that both designers and developers could use. This made it easier to build new features faster and keep everything consistent.

We followed a modular approach, breaking everything down into smaller reusable parts, from basic elements like colors and typography to components and full pages. This helped us scale across the entire product without starting from scratch every time.

Interestingly, this also influenced our tech decisions. Some of the visual ideas we had, like dynamic backgrounds and blur effects, were not easy to implement with our existing setup. That pushed us to explore better technologies that could support what we wanted to build.

What Aurora Changed

Looking back, Aurora was not just a design project. It became a bridge between design and engineering.

It helped us move from isolated decisions to a more unified way of building products. It reduced inconsistencies, improved speed, and allowed us to focus more on solving real user problems instead of redesigning the same things repeatedly.

And personally, working on Aurora changed how I think about design.

It’s not just about making things look good. It’s about creating systems that make it easier to build better experiences, again and again.

That’s what Aurora is for us. Not just a design language, but a foundation for everything we build next.

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