Introducing Design Systems

Step 1: Importance in brand identity and improving UX

Design systems are all about standardisation. By establishing these precise standards for all elements of design (including things like typography, colour, layout and interaction etc.) Designers are able to easily produce products with the same look and feel across platforms and devices. This is a great way that designers raise brand recognition while also enhancing the UX.

Step 2: Created and replicated at scale with ease

Another primary benefit rather than establishing visual guidelines, is their ability to provide a library of reusable components that can be implemented and used with ease. It's also not too difficult for us designers to make any necessary modifications for our projects. You can use them continuously over and over, reducing the need to reinvent and this also makes the design process quicker and more maintainable.

Step 3: Gotta' love accessibility

They are also necessary when it comes to improving accessibility for all users. You can easily create products that are simple to use for users of different ability as these systems clearly define standards for contrast, font size, and more. As a results, your products can reach a wider audience and become more inclusive!

Step 4: The hatred towards these systems

As with everything, there are some hurdles and limitations when it comes to the creation and use cases of a design system. One reason being that it takes a lot of damn time and it requires a dedicated team to support the timeframe. They are constantly evolving and you need to have the teams to keep up. Design systems aren't always too helpful on the tin, it takes a little bit of time to teach others to use your design system as it won't be the same as the others out there.

Step 5: Well what's in a design system?

There are a few key elements of a design system, that provide a way to unify your design, and keep it consistent. And provides that smooth language often used to create high quality user experiences, streamline workflows and reduce the costs of project development.

Style Guides Well? What are they? A style guide is a set of guidelines or constraints that define the visual design elements and brand identity of your project or brand. Style guides will typically include typography, color palettes, iconography and overall tone. The purpose of this guide is to keep consistency in all touchpoints of your brand.

Component Libraries A collection of pre-made visual building blocks that can be used to create UI with ease. These blocks include things such as buttons, forms etc. Having a library of these visual blocks, is helpful for designers as it will generally save time and again ensure that consistency for your design.

Pattern Libraries A pattern library is a collection of pre-designed solutions to common design problems that designers and developers can reuse. These solutions can include things like navigation menus, forms, error messages, and other common design elements. By using a pattern library, designers and developers can solve design problems more quickly and consistently.