net - UK (2020-03)

The name ‘design system’ can create

a false impression of something that

provides value only for designers. But in

reality a design system isn’t something

that just concerns designers; instead it’s

about how an entire organisation builds

its products.

Successful design processes usually

depend on there being a tight cross-

functional collaboration between

all teams involved in the creation of

the product. And a design system is

about building a shared language that

empowers teams to collaborate more

effectively. It’s a complete set of design

principles, rules and standards along

with the toolkit (design patterns, visual

styles and a code library of reusable UI

components) required to achieve those

principles, rules and standards. A design

system enables a product team to create

a product faster – without having to

sacrifice any quality – by making the

design reusable.

The ultimate purpose of going to the

trouble of implementing a design system

is to help the business learn and grow.

That’s why a design system should

always be based on the objectives of a

business. For the very same reason, not

all design systems are built the same but

nevertheless, most design systems share

a few common elements:

O Design principles – values that ensure

the design efforts head in the right

direction.

O Components and pattern libraries

• these are the building blocks of a
  design system.
  O Design guides – specific rules on
  how to design a particular part of
  a product. These can include style
  guidelines (typography, colours,
  spacing, etc) and UX writing
  guidelines (voice and tone, language,
  writing principles, etc).
  O Design practices – help to keep the
  system alive and valuable for the
  product team.

Product and company maturity

Before you start building a design

system, you need a clear understanding

of why you need one. Many companies

introduce design systems to reduce their

technical debt and speed up the product

development process (by spending

less time on tedious, monotonous

activities). But not all companies face

such problems because companies have

different levels of design maturity.

Creating a design system from scratch

is a time-consuming activity and small,

fast-moving teams likely don’t need a

design system because it would slow

them down. A three-to-five–person

startup that is still trying to find a

product-market fit would probably spend

a significant amount of time creating a

system. When resources are being spent

on building a design system, they aren’t

being spent on building the product.

Therefore, until a company is in the

position of having established a clear

direction with its product, investing

These are the common

elements a design system

usually encompasses

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