The NCF Design System (Nick & Nora)
Designing the Data Backbone of Card Production
At Fanatics Collectibles / Topps, fragmented workflows and inconsistent UI patterns slowed production as the organization scaled. To solve this, we created Nick and Nora — the design system powering the New Card Factory (NCF). Nick and Nora was built on top of Crushed Ice, the existing design system supporting the company’s B2B platforms, but evolved to meet the needs of a far more data-dense, operational, production-grade environment. While Crushed Ice provided the foundational visual language and core components, Nick and Nora extended that system with workflow-specific patterns, complex status states, modular production components, and governance tailored to end-to-end trading card creation — transforming NCF into a scalable, cohesive internal product ecosystem
Client
Fanatics Collectibles
Services
UX Research, User Flows, Wireframes, Mockups, Prototypes
Industries
Collectibles
Date
2025
Nick and Nora ultimately transformed NCF from a collection of features into a scalable, production-grade platform. By aligning design, engineering, and QA around a shared system foundation, we reduced ambiguity, accelerated development cycles, and strengthened operational reliability. The system didn’t just standardize UI — it created a durable infrastructure that supported business growth, increased production velocity, and positioned NCF as a long-term strategic asset within Fanatics Collectibles / Topps.