CVS "Super App" and Pulse Velocity
January 2023 - December 2024
CVS "Super App" Initiative
Before the January 2025 launch announcement of the CVS Health App (often referred to internally as the “Super App”), there were nearly two years of hard work that made this major release possible.
The years 2023–2024 were especially exciting for the CVS Digital enterprise — and for the design community in particular. The Super App initiative quickly became an all-hands-on-deck effort across the organization. Teams came together around a shared goal: to unify CVS’s complex ecosystem into a single, cohesive experience.
In short, the Super App delivered on both iOS and Android platforms:
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A unified CVS Health app that brings prescriptions, benefits, and wellness into one experience
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Family-wide prescription management, personalized health tasks, AI-powered search, and faster in-store pickup — including barcodes and, in some locations, app-unlocked cabinets
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A redesigned home screen that surfaces reminders, orders, and tailored recommendations in one place
For more information read the official press release:
Digital Pulse Design SystemTeam's Impact
The Pulse Design System team played an instrumental role in this enterprise-level effort. We were responsible for delivering updated iOS and Android libraries within an expedited timeframe to support the Super App launch.
At the same time, several disruptive changes were happening in parallel, which adds important context to the level of pressure the team was operating under:
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The Brand team changed the primary action color from red to blue. This impacted multiple components across Pulse platform libraries and required an even larger effort from engineering teams, since many existing CVS websites and apps still had hard-coded color instances outside of Pulse components.
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Design token definitions were finalized across both design and engineering — and we had to quickly react and realign our libraries to reflect these changes.
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Android components were in the middle of a transition to Material 2, adding another layer of complexity to component updates and releases.
Given the tight timelines, the team had to adapt quickly. We were asked to ship Figma components first, with coded components following as soon as they were ready. Releases happened incrementally — component by component — rather than as a single bundled release.
Pulse Multi-faceted Support
The Pulse team wasn’t only producing component libraries and writing documentation. We were also deeply involved in supporting production teams in a variety of ways.
To give some context, it’s important to describe the level of native-platform expertise across the product design organization at the time. Since the initiative focused on creating native iOS and Android experiences, designers suddenly had to work within entirely new ecosystems — learning platform-specific patterns, components, and conventions. The majority of CVS designers came from a web background and had little to no experience designing native mobile apps. As a result, we often saw web patterns and components being applied to native app designs. Designers had to learn quickly, and our team was tasked with supporting that learning curve in every way possible.
Office Hours
To support product designers, the Pulse team hosted office hours twice a week, where designers could bring questions and ask for guidance. These sessions quickly became a space for knowledge sharing, where people felt comfortable asking questions and seeking advice in an open, friendly environment. Pulse always aimed to have both design and accessibility representation across platforms — Web, iOS, and Android — to ensure well-rounded support.
Native Platforms Knowledge Center
In addition, the Pulse iOS designer and I partnered to create a native design knowledge center in Confluence to help upskill designers who were now responsible for native flows and screens. We documented platform fundamentals such as screen sizes, resolutions, densities, measurement units, fonts, and more. We also created a collection of the most commonly used patterns, along with a comparison matrix of iOS and Android components — outlining which components should be used for specific intents, in what context, and how the two platforms differ.
Design Review Committee
Pulse design system designers were also asked to take seats on the Design Review Committee, which oversaw, critiqued, and approved designs before they moved into production. Being part of this committee was a valuable opportunity for the Pulse team to better understand real product needs, gather meaningful feedback, and pressure-test our components in real-world use cases. It was also a chance to advocate for the Pulse Design System, educate designers and leadership on system thinking, and reinforce accessibility requirements.
This work wasn’t always easy. It often required balancing and negotiating the needs of brand, accessibility partners, and product teams — but it was a critical part of making the Super App effort successful.
Android Team Contribution
Over a six-month period, the Android team delivered 20 “default” components, along with accompanying design documentation. After that initial push, we continued to deliver custom components and enhancements as requests came in from solution teams.
While design was focused on shipping as many components as possible, we also had to actively support the engineering team. We didn’t want — and couldn’t afford — to stall implementation. As a result, Pulse Android components began appearing in production flows and were released incrementally in the app.
Seeing those components live in real user journeys was both reassuring and gratifying. It was tangible proof that the work was landing and that the system was truly being used.
My Role
I often led the Android team in the absence of consistent PM coverage. During those periods, I ran the team’s standups, backlog grooming sessions, PI planning, sprint planning meetings, and related ceremonies.
In addition to acting as a PM for the Android team, I represented the Android platform in Pulse cross-platform workshops and brainstorming sessions. Several foundational initiatives were running in parallel at the time — including the setup of the Pulse design token architecture.
As part of that work, I was asked to represent Android definitions to ensure that Android components were fully covered by the token system. This included identifying Android-specific token needs while being mindful not to overcomplicate or bloat the shared token infrastructure.
Super App Experiences On Android
The Pulse Design System team began to see our efforts paying off. The app experiences product designers were crafting increasingly reflected platform specificities and aligned with well-established ecosystem patterns.
Pulse Android components started appearing in production flows and were released in the app. Seeing the fruits of our labor live in real experiences was both reassuring and gratifying.
App Main Sections
Shopping
Health
Benefits
Our team received both praise and critique. We were often told that we weren’t moving fast enough, and that our internal processes and decision-making took too much time.
We had to clearly explain our whys to solution designers, their team leads, and upper management: why does it take so many cycles to release a new component? Especially when stock components already exist for both iOS and Android. Wouldn’t it be as simple as cherry-picking a component from the Material UI kit, customizing it to match brand colors and styles, and releasing it into production?
These were valid questions — and ones we had to face and answer openly.
Community Model
Pulse team produced white papers and other artifacts that documented our processes, component-building framework, and the principles our team adhered to.
Design systems do not innovate — they curate and stabilize an organization’s design ecosystem. They are the infrastructure of the building. Only well-researched, tested, and proven components and patterns can become part of that infrastructure, which means prioritizing quality over speed. At the same time, a design system should not become a bottleneck for shipping products.
To balance these needs, CVS design leadership decided to move forward with a contribution model. Community library building teams were formed to create their own product-level libraries, allowing them to innovate and ship faster in response to immediate demands.
The Pulse team then evaluated and “graduated” component and pattern candidates when they met specific criteria — for example, when their use cases extended beyond a single product. After careful evaluation and a rigorous adjustment process to ensure they met Pulse standards, these components could be standardized and absorbed into the Pulse libraries.
Accessibility as Baseline of Pulse Quality Assurance
Accessibility was a foundational part of Pulse quality assurance. Every component, pattern, style, and token went through multiple, multidisciplinary checkpoints. Designers partnered closely with accessibility specialists, developers, and content strategists to ensure that community contributions were fully vetted by subject-matter experts.
We asked hard, practical questions at every step:
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Is this accessible to all users?
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Can it be implemented with all the features and permutations the design envisions?
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Does the content hierarchy make sense for both visual users and those relying on assistive technologies?
Even after all the boxes were checked and a component made it into production, the work didn’t stop. Components went through regression testing and could still be flagged with defects by accessibility engineers.
A lot goes into producing a truly high-quality product.
To support this process, Pulse accessibility designers created an Accessibility Annotations Kit, which design system designers used to prepare clear and successful design-to-development handoff specifications.
Infotip is just one of many components I worked on, but it’s a good representative example of how Pulse quality and accessibility standards were applied in practice.
Conclusion
The CVS Health App launch was the result of sustained, collective effort across many teams over multiple years. For the Pulse Design System team, it meant showing up consistently under pressure — delivering foundational libraries, supporting a rapidly scaling design organization, and holding the line on quality, accessibility, and platform integrity while timelines continued to compress.
Pulse operated not only as a system team, but as infrastructure: enabling product teams to move faster without sacrificing usability, accessibility, or coherence across platforms. Through documentation, education, office hours, cross-platform collaboration, and a contribution model that balanced innovation with stability, the team helped shape a design ecosystem capable of supporting an enterprise-level initiative like the Super App.
Within that effort, my role spanned design, systems thinking, and leadership. I contributed extensively to the Android component library, partnered closely with engineering and accessibility teams, and often stepped in to lead the Android team in the absence of consistent product management. I represented Android in cross-platform workshops, helped define token architecture, and worked to ensure that platform-specific needs were met without compromising the integrity of the shared system.
Seeing Pulse components ship in production — and watching product experiences mature into truly native, accessible, and scalable solutions — was both validating and deeply rewarding. This work reinforced my belief that strong design systems help people do their best work — by creating clarity, trust, and a shared foundation that lasts. The Super App launch stands as a reflection of that philosophy, and of the care and dedication the Pulse team brought to making it successful.