Design Systems - A Maker’s Guide
First installment of a personal project to capture and share processes and craft I’ve learned with others who are interested in design systems.
Resources
Figma community file ->
Design systems are as vibrant as the builders that create them.
Design systems are inherently different from the style guides we grew to love as designers. Design systems reflect the needs of a multitude of different disciplines that span cross teams and potentially products.
All of their voices come together to create a collaborative documentation of how they build products together.
In today’s landscape we’re asked to build products quickly and efficiently. Design systems allow for consistency across teams and capture design decisions that scale.
We’re answering the question of-- how do we bring people together with different disciplines, needs and evolve ideas collaboratively within the product space?
Technology and tools are fleeting, but goals remain the same.
AI has taken over how we now approach many of our processes and even have provided new ways to create. Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen a number of tools come and go in the design space. Anyone remember Adobe Muse?
We’ve adapted and evolved how we approach building design systems, from the early days of code based libraries to kick start project like Bootstrap to robust systems like Uber Base.
A few ideas remain a constants in every system we create. We want to save time and be consistent.
Design systems are often reinventing the same concepts.
IHow many different times have we collectively reinvented what a button looks like?
At the core, as design system architects, designers, developers and product owners, we struggle with how we communicate value of a design system to stakeholders and business. Many find that value comes from the components themselves, however the true value comes from the vision and the foundation.
The idea that we see value in from outputting components is a trap. The effort to crank out a button is always going to be less than the real work we must do to establish a design system. We should first identify what we need from a design system. Dig deep and work with product teams to understand their real needs from a system.
Design systems are not a “one size” solution for every product team.
The size and scope of a design system is related to the needs established by the product teams. Some product teams only need an organized reference of their brand color, typography and assets, while other teams need robust systems that can serve cross-platform and multiple brands.
Design systems are about how our teams collaborate.
Before you read a word in a layout, design communicates, evokes emotions and even sometimes challenges expectations. Design requires a strong foundation to build upon.
Results 🎉
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