Design systems are product development tools that come in different shapes and sizes depending on the product strategy they’re built to support.
Think about how your design system will align with your product roadmap and concretely define the top-level business problem you want to solve. This will facilitate every design decision you make during the process and also inform your definition of success.
Having a clear goal will also help you with adoption.
Establishing a common language across all roles in an organisation is the cornerstone to a good design system.
A design system shouldn’t be a policing tool. While it needs to ensure that your highest standards of quality and accessibility empower your designers, it also ought to create an environment where anyone can contribute easily to its continued development.
Documentation is a must-have for design systems of any scale. It allows everyone to make consistent decisions, fast and efficiently.
Building a design system isn’t enough. To provide even more efficiency to your users, you have to proactively integrate your design system into their workflows with tooling.
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The effort required to build a design system is tiny compared to the effort required to maintain it.
by Kyle Peatt
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By involving real people who will be using the design system early on in the process, you can build rapport, get valuable feedback, create an official (or unofficial) ambassadorship program, and more.
by Tyce Clee
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Don’t make yourself or other people think your design system will change the world by saving you time. Instead, focus on things that are really important, like designers and developers understanding each other.
by Daniël de Wit
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Design systems at their best, have the power to align everyone on a shared vision of what your brand’s voice and visual style is, and how it behaves.
by Magera Moon
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In Spotify, our designers no longer view themselves as users of the system, but instead see their role as core contributor and co-author of a shared system.
by Spotify Design
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