Guide: Design Systems

A design system is a collection of reusable components, guidelines, and standards that are used to ensure consistency and efficiency in the design process. The purpose of a design system is to establish a shared language and understanding across teams, reduce redundancy, and streamline the design and development process.

A well-designed design system can help teams create products and services that are more user-friendly, accessible, and scalable. What are the key components of a design system?

1. Design principles: A set of guiding principles that dictate the design decisions made by the team. These principles should be based on user needs, accessibility, and scalability.
2. Style guide: A comprehensive document that outlines the visual and brand identity of the product, including typography, color palette, and imagery.
3. Component library: A collection of reusable components, such as buttons, forms, and cards, that are used across the product. These components should be designed with accessibility in mind, and should be responsive to different screen sizes.
4. Design patterns: A set of common design patterns that can be used to solve specific design problems. These patterns should be based on user research and best practices.
5. Accessibility guidelines: Guidelines for designing products and services that are accessible to people with disabilities.
6. Design language documentation: Documentation that outlines the design language used by the team, including terminology and definitions.
7. Collaboration tools: Tools for collaboration and communication between designers, developers, and stakeholders. These tools should facilitate feedback and iteration throughout the design process.
8. Continuously evaluate and improve: Regularly review and refine the design system to ensure that it remains relevant and effective. This may involve updating components, adding new patterns, or making changes based on user feedback.
9. Encourage adoption: Encourage teams to use the design system consistently, and provide training and support to help them do so effectively. Celebrate successes and recognize the value that the design system brings to the organization.

They can be used in a variety of industries, including software development, product design, and branding. They are particularly useful for large teams working on complex products or services. By establishing a shared language and set of guidelines, design systems can help teams work more efficiently and effectively, resulting in better products and services for users.

There are several types of design systems:

• Digital design systems: These are used to create a consistent user experience across digital products such as websites, mobile apps, and software.
• Brand design systems: Focused on creating a consistent visual identity for a brand across all touchpoints, including print materials, packaging, and advertising.
• Product design systems: Used to guide the design of a specific product or product line, and are often a subset of a larger digital or brand design system.
• Enterprise design systems: These are large-scale design systems that span multiple products, brands, and business units within an organization.
• Component-based design systems: Modular systems that consist of pre-designed UI components that can be combined and customized to build various products.
• Voice design systems: Create a consistent voice and tone for conversational interfaces such as voice assistants and chatbots.
  Motion design systems: Create a consistent visual language for motion graphics, animations, and transitions across digital products.

Advantages

1. Consistency: Ensures that all design elements are consistent, no matter who is working on the project. Consistency in design leads to a better user experience and helps establish brand identity.
2. Efficiency: Can save time and money by providing reusable components, guidelines, and standards. This reduces the need to start from scratch for each project and allows for quicker iterations.
3. Scalability: Designed to scale with the product or service. As the product grows, the design system can be updated to include new components, patterns, and guidelines.
4. Collaboration: Provides a shared language and understanding between designers, developers, and stakeholders. This facilitates collaboration and communication, leading to better products and services.
5. Accessibility: Can ensure that all design elements are accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. This helps ensure that the product or service is inclusive and meets accessibility standards.
6. Branding: Help establish and maintain a consistent brand identity across all products and services. This helps establish trust with users and makes it easier for them to recognize and remember the brand.

Disadvantages

1. Upfront investment: Creating a design system requires an upfront investment of time, resources, and expertise. This can be a significant barrier for smaller teams or organizations.
2. Maintenance: Require ongoing maintenance and updates to ensure that they remain relevant and useful. This can be time-consuming and costly.
3. Flexibility: Can sometimes be too rigid, limiting creativity and flexibility in the design process. This can result in products or services that feel generic or lack personality.
4. Skill level: Require a certain level of design and technical expertise to create and implement. Teams without these skills may struggle to create or use a design system effectively.
5. Resistance to change: Some team members may resist using a design system if they feel it limits their creativity or design freedom. This can lead to fragmentation and inconsistency in the design process.
6. Complexity: Complex and difficult to understand, especially for new team members. This can create a steep learning curve and hinder productivity.

The best design systems: 

1. Material Design by Google: A comprehensive design system that includes guidelines, principles, and a library of components for creating apps and websites. It emphasizes clean, modern design and is focused on providing a consistent user experience across different platforms.
2. Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines: A set of guidelines for designing iOS apps, Apple Watch apps, and other Apple products.
3. Salesforce Lightning Design System: Framework for building enterprise-level apps and websites. It includes a library of components, design patterns, and guidelines, as well as tools for customization and branding.
4. Ant Design: An open-source design system that provides a large set of UI components and design patterns for building enterprise-level products.
5. Semantic UI: An open-source design system that provides a comprehensive set of UI components and design patterns for building websites and apps.
6. Bootstrap: A popular open-source framework for building responsive websites and web applications.
7. Atlassian Design System: A comprehensive system for designing and developing digital products and services. It includes a library of components, patterns, and guidelines, as well as tools for collaboration and iteration.
8. Shopify Polaris Design System: System of guidelines, principles, and components for designing and developing e-commerce products and services. It emphasizes simplicity, accessibility, and a consistent user experience.
9. IBM Design Language: Is a system of guidelines, assets, and tools for creating digital products and services. It is based on user-centered design principles and includes a library of reusable components, patterns, and best practices.

These design systems are well-regarded for their comprehensiveness, usability, and effectiveness in creating high-quality digital products and services.