The National Archives

Torchbox partnered with The National Archives (TNA) to consolidate and modernise their fragmented design assets into a unified, scalable, and accessible design system that now serves as the single source of truth for design and development across TNA’s digital platforms.

Initially, TNA’s design assets were dispersed across multiple applications, each with its own patterns and inconsistencies. Torchbox led the process of building and refining a modular Figma design system, drawing from these existing designs to establish a cohesive visual and functional framework.

The result is a comprehensive design system that supports both the design and development teams:

In Figma, the system provides a shared, modular toolkit for designers and content creators. It enables rapid prototyping, consistent template creation, and seamless iteration in response to evolving user needs.

Each component includes detailed documentation, outlining ideal usage, themes, responsive behaviour, interaction patterns, and accessibility guidance, ensuring that new designs remain consistent and inclusive across devices and audiences.

The development team at TNA built a Storybook instance based on the Figma design system, with guidance and support from Torchbox, allowing developers to make use of all the reusable components within the library.

The design system now underpins TNA’s live website, encompassing the majority of its interface components, as documented at design-system.nationalarchives.gov.uk. It continues to play an active role in new digital initiatives, including the replatforming of the Government Web Archive.

Published across the organisation, the TNA design system stands as a flexible, scalable, and accessible foundation for future digital projects, empowering in-house teams to deliver consistent, user-centred experiences efficiently and sustainably.