A design system is a collection of reusable components, standardized for a particular product, website, or web system. Different from a style guide, a design system unifies the language of a product.
What is a Design System?
A design system is a set of standards to manage design at scale by reducing redundancy while creating a shared language and visual consistency across different pages and channels.
Design systems, when implemented well, can provide a lot of benefits to a design team:
- Design (and development) work can be created and replicated quickly and at scale.
- It alleviates strain on design resources to focus on larger, more complex problems.
- It creates a unified language within and between cross-function teams.
- It creates visual consistency across products, channels, and (potentially solid) departments.
- It can serve as an educational tool and reference for junior-level designers and content contributors.
There are some potential hurdles and limitations which may prevent a design team from using a design system:
- creating and maintaining a system is a time-intensive activity that requires a dedicated team
- it takes time to teach others how to use the design system
- there may be a perception that projects are static, one-off creations, which generally don’t require reusable components.
There are two important parts to a design system:
- The design repository: they contain a style guide, a component library, and a pattern library.
- The people who manage it: for a design system to be effective it needs a team to oversight and ensure that they don’t become outdated, obsolete, or overcrowded with redundant entries or submissions.
The difference between a design system and a style guide or pattern library is in the standards and documentation that accompany the assets. With a guide on how and why to use them, design components become easier to use and clear to discern.
Building a library of design patterns, rules, and UX guidelines prevents inconsistencies when shipping products at scale.
Examples of design systems
References