Unveiling the best design systems: Principles, examples, and key takeaways

Introduction: What is a design system?

A design system is like a team of different parts that work together to achieve a specific purpose. It promotes consistent user experiences across a product or platform of products.

Guiding principles of effective design systems

• Cohesion: Design components and patterns should work well together to create unified user experiences.
• Modularity: Design systems should be composed of reusable modular components, giving designers the building blocks to create a variety of interfaces.

Essential components of design systems

1. Design tokens: Variables used by designers and engineers to communicate styling values.
2. Typography: Selecting fonts that can be used for specific scenarios.
3. Color palettes: Establishing brand identity, guiding user interactions, and maintaining visual consistency.
4. Grid systems: Providing guidelines for visual alignment and flexibility in layout.
5. UI components: Considering users' mental models when selecting components.

Case study: Example 1 — Carbon design system

Carbon is a design system developed by IBM. It prioritizes consistency, scalability, and accessibility across their design and development teams.

Case study: Example 2 — Audi design system

Audi's design system focuses on creating a seamless user experience across their digital products, combining their brand identity with modern design principles.

Case study: Example 3 — Polaris

Polaris is Shopify's design system, which empowers their developers and designers to create consistent and seamless experiences for their merchants.

Lessons learned from the best design systems

• Clear communication and collaboration between design and development teams are key.
• Consistency is crucial for establishing a strong brand identity and user experience.
• User-centered design principles should guide the development of a design system.

Implementing a design system: Guidelines and considerations

• Start small and gradually expand the design system.
• Involve stakeholders from different departments to ensure cross-team collaboration.
• Create comprehensive documentation and guidelines for ease of use and accessibility.

Design system tools and resources

There are various tools and resources available for creating and managing design systems, such as Figma, Sketch, Storybook, and Zeroheight.

Measuring the impact of a design system

Design systems should be regularly evaluated to measure their impact on user experience, development efficiency, and overall product success.