AI + Bolt: Smarter Design at Nationwide

As AI tools continue to evolve, they’re starting to show up in more and more of our day-to-day workflows. For the Bolt Design System, that’s especially exciting. At Nationwide, Bolt helps us build consistent, scalable, and accessible digital experiences—but now, with the help of AI, we’re starting to imagine (and implement) even smarter ways to work.

Here’s a look at how AI is already impacting our design system—and where we think it’s headed next.

One of the biggest opportunities AI offers is closing the gap between design and development. These tools can take a Figma design and automatically turn it into usuable code, HTML, and even styled components. Even better, we can configure these tools to output Bolt-aligned components, which means faster handoffs and fewer custom builds.

On the engineering side, tools like GitHub Copilot help developers write Bolt-compliant code by suggesting components, tokens, and patterns as they go. We also use Copilot to write unit tests. While it may not always be perfect, it’s getting better quickly and it already helps teams stay closer to system standards with less manual effort.

In Figma, AI is becoming a behind-the-scenes design assistant. Plugins can help with everything from writing better button text to generating icons or layouts—right inside the Bolt libraries. It’s especially useful for rapid prototyping or experimenting with new flows without drifting away from our core system styles.

We’re also exploring how AI can help reinforce Bolt’s spacing, typography, and component structure automatically—so designs stay clean and consistent before they ever reach a developer.

AI isn’t just for making things faster—it’s also helping us maintain Bolt more effectively:

• AI-powered linting tools can catch small design or development inconsistencies.
• Accessibility checkers use machine learning to flag color contrast or keyboard issues early.
• Usage analytics tools (some powered by AI) can help us track which components are most used, duplicated, or ready for retirement—so we can keep Bolt lean and focused.

This kind of automation helps us spend less time doing audits and more time improving the system for teams across Nationwide.

Today, Bolt is a static system - everybody gets the same components. But in the future, AI could open the door for Bolt to become more adaptive. Imagine if an interface could adjust itself based on what a user is doing, their preferences, or even their accessibility needs. AI could help Bolt evolve in a new direction, especially in digital product experiences that aim to be truly member-first.

We’re not there yet, but we’re keeping a close eye on it. Personalized experiences that still follow Bolt’s standards may be a useful tool.

As we continue exploring AI, we’re balancing the potential with the realities:

• AI can speed things up, but it still needs human oversight—especially when it comes to accessibility, usability, and security.
• Mapping AI-generated output to Bolt’s exact architecture usually needs some cleanup.
• And like any tool, it’s most powerful when it’s used intentionally—not just because it’s trendy.

AI isn’t replacing designers or developers at Nationwide—it’s becoming a powerful partner in the process. For Bolt, that means:

• Faster design and development,
• Smarter, more consistent interfaces,
• And a future-ready system that can adapt to how teams actually work.

We’re just getting started, but the opportunities are real. If you’re working with Bolt or curious about using AI tools in your workflow, reach out to the design system team—we’d love to collaborate and explore what’s next, together.