Asurion Korea
CRM Platform for Experts
01 — Context
Summary
This project started with a harder task than writing code — convincing the team to strip out MUI entirely and rebuild from scratch. Internal tooling meant no one felt urgency to improve it. I made the case for maintainability and future scalability, and the component system I built is now scoped for expansion into a larger platform ecosystem.
02 — Challenge
Problem
The team had moved fast with MUI under deadline pressure, but customizing it to match the design had become a significant burden. Developers saw no urgency — it was internal tooling. Designers wanted their specs matched. Bridging that gap was the first challenge. Design specs were incomplete and development ran ahead of design, meaning I had to independently define folder structure, layout, and component architecture from the ground up.
03 — Approach
What I Did
- Advocated for removing MUI entirely, making the case through maintainability and scalability. Arguments alone weren't enough — I showed the team a live demo of the token system using a VS Code extension that renders color variables visually. "Change navy-10 once, it updates everywhere." Seeing it clicked faster than explaining it.
- Designed independent components (Button, Input, Select) with systematized variants. Separated component styles with Styled-Components and page layouts with SCSS — deliberately architected for reuse across future platforms.
- Used TypeScript prop types to prevent semantic HTML violations by other developers. Incorrect tag usage surfaces as a type error immediately.
- Owned structural decisions that neither design nor development formally defined — where side-drawers mount, how repeated components nest, how files are organized. Invisible work, but the kind that determines whether a codebase stays clean at scale.
- Worked side-by-side with a developer to test STT accuracy and AI chat behavior in real time. When the AI's call-summary feature needed UI that didn't exist yet — like how a summary should visually surface mid-call — I defined those interactions directly with the designer rather than waiting for a spec.
04 — Outcome
Result
Delivered a design system of 20+ components that eliminated MUI dependency in favor of a fully custom system built for long-term maintainability. The system's reception led to a leadership-level proposal to extend it into a larger platform ecosystem, with the architecture supporting subsequent AI chat and STT feature expansions.