We have been hearing a lot about design systems these days. All the big shots like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Mozilla have their own design systems. These companies have changed the way they design digital products. They have built a collection of reusable components and a set of guidelines and standards for those components.
Let’s understand what design systems are first.
10 years ago, people simply called them pattern libraries. A few years ago, Atomic Design entered the scene and provided extensive grammar around them. Once Google unveiled Material Design in 2014, the concept of design systems had finally matured. I believe you have heard various definitions, so let me start by defining what a Design System isn’t; it is not a Sketch library, no more than a Style guide, or a Pattern Library. It’s all of this and so much more. More simply put, the difference is in the standards and documentation that accompanies the assets and components. A guide on why and how to use them would help the team and people working on the product.
“A design system is a collection of reusable components, guided by clear standards, that can be assembled together to build any number of applications.”
<aside> 💡 Design Systems bring order to chaos.
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They help teams by giving them a more structured and guided way to build their product. Everyone involved in building the product is on the same page, so the entire product remains consistent throughout. The team knows exactly how components should look and work.
Design System exists if it can be used without the creator
Design systems enable teams to build better products faster by making design reusable—reusability makes scale possible. The need for Design Systems goes hand in hand with the need for scalability, efficiency, and consistency in Design. So, how do you address these challenges?
Scalability: How will you design consistent UIs across platforms (Web, iOS & Android) with a growing design team and organization?Efficiency: How efficient is your design+development workflow? Is the dev handoff road bumpy or a smooth cruise?Consistency: My UI looks to be consistent across platforms. Let the UI audit decide.Assure scalability, efficiency, and consistency with Design System.
Imagine that your company has a product that has been building for a long time. It’s likely that many teams working on different parts of the product will create inconsistencies in the product over time. Many businesses are investing in design as they recognize that the customer experience of their products offers a competitive advantage, attracts and retains customers, and reduces support costs.Why is a company investing in a design system?