Arnaud Ostrowski

About

I’m a Design Systems Consultant who loves bringing designers, developers, and stakeholders together to craft scalable and cohesive digital products. My passion lies at the intersection of thoughtful design, clean code, and smart processes—transforming fragmented workflows into unified, collaborative ecosystems.

Currently, I’m Design System Lead at Elia Group. We’re building the next generation of Nova, a multi-framework design system that empowers designers and developers create the digital products that run the electrical grid in Belgium and Eastern Germany.

With my hybrid background spanning design, frontend engineering, and product strategy, I’m uniquely positioned to bridge communication gaps and ensure the systems we build are genuinely adopted, scalable, and impactful.

Because staying close to craft matters deeply to me, I keep my hands dirty in both design and code. Alongside consulting, I regularly take on a few selected product design and front-end engineering projects each year. It keeps me sharp, ensures I stay connected to evolving practices, and allows me to continually test and refine the systems I advocate.

Experiences

• 2024 — Present

  Design System Lead at Elia Group

  I led the transformation the system into a scalable design system used by dozen digital products across Elia Group. Enabled cross-team collaboration and contributions through a hybrid governance model, bridging design and development across multiple frameworks.

• 2022 — 2024

  Design System Lead at Randstad

  I led the redesign of our system, enhancing visual quality and accessibility. We shifted to a React architecture, developing reusable frontend elements for over 40 countries. Our efforts streamlined design libraries through an automated workflow, promoting cross-functional collaboration.

• 2018 — 2022

  Design System Designer at Proximus

  After two years as UX designer, I transitioned to a design system designer role. I spearheaded the development of a scalable Design System and formed a DesignOps team, enhancing our team's capabilities. This project streamlined processes using workshops, tools, and methodologies, greatly boosting collaboration and productivity across different areas.

• 2016 — Present

  Founder at Caizen

  I played a key role in guiding multiple companies through the design aspects of their digital products, from initial strategic decisions to crafting production-ready interfaces. My expertise has been applied across a spectrum of clients, ranging from small and medium enterprises to government agencies.

• 2008 — 2016

  Freelance Designer

  I served a broad range of clients, from local SMEs to global brands. My work included designing logos and brand identities, developing web interfaces for websites and apps, managing photo shoots for events and advertising, and creating promotional materials like clothing and catalogs.

Contributions

• How We Scaled Our Design System

  From mismatched libraries to a framework-agnostic platform: lessons from the rewrite of Nova Tycho.

• Nova Variable Finder

  A handy Figma plugin that helps you find deleted variables still in use and locate specificnodes in your document.

• Building the Proximus Design System

  The podcast episode where we discuss the process of building the Proximus Design System, a product used by more than 100 in-house designers.