How Building a Design System Contributes to Product and Business Growth
What is a design system exactly? What are its contents? When is a design system effective? What is its business value and return on investment?
This is a high-level summary of an article I wrote. This is just scratching the surface of the topic Design Systems. If you prefer to read the full article, you can find it at Desinger’s Growth.
The Definition of a Design System
A design system is a combined set of principles, functional patterns and perceptual patterns that can be used as the building blocks for design at scale. Design systems are a tool to manage and accommodate the reusability – also known as modularity – of these building blocks. Design systems create a shared language, and thus shared vision for the digital product – and the business behind the product.
The Core Contents of a Design System
Principles — Principles are established to articulate the purpose and values of the product.
Functional Patterns — These are the tangible parts of the product interface. These are regularly referred to as building blocks or the more common term, components. The modular pieces.
Perceptual Patterns — They define the aesthetics of the product the design system is utilized for.
Shared Language — In order to create a shared language, you need to collaborate with the team on naming patterns. Good pattern names are based on metaphors, have a personality, and communicate the purpose of the pattern.
The Return on Investment
Increases scalability for the business – Innovative solutions become easier to explore, test and develop, thanks to the modularity of building blocks.
Maintains brand credibility and product consistency – Design systems reinforce the credibility of your brand.
Aligns business goals with customer needs – Teams and stakeholders stay focused on the business’s vision, mission and values.
Efficient cross-functional collaboration — Effective design systems foster collaboration among team members, resulting in better decision-making, faster feedback, and a more efficient workflow.
Would you like to go in-depth?
This is a high-level summary of an article I wrote. This is just scratching the surface of the topic Design Systems. If you found this grabbed your attention, you ca find the full article on my blog site Desinger’s Growth.
I’ll be launching a newsletter on ‘Shared language’ in the upcoming weeks. Maybe you’ve already heard of them: Design Tokens. The full article is already available on Desinger’s Growth. If you would like to jump right into the article: How to Accelarate your Design System and Collaboration with Design Tokens