These days, a lot of people in the design community have been talking about design systems. Though conceptually bold, design systems have already proven their value for many leading firms.
Design Systems Are Shaking Up The Corporate World
If you’ve been following the design discussion, you’ll know there is a lively debate surrounding design systems. For some old-fashioned designers, the idea of systematizing design can be a bit suspect. Some professionals are even afraid that design systems will take their jobs. Any evenhanded review of the facts demonstrates that these fears are misplaced. Design systems do not necessarily replace designers. Instead, they help designers achieve greater things. The right design system (DS) helps make for more consistent designs over time. If you’ve been developing the same product for a long while, the project has likely passed through many hands. At any given time, you may have different teams working on various parts of a large project. In situations like these, inconsistencies can easily appear. For example, a revealing internal HubSpot audit found that their interface featured more than 100 different shades of gray. No individual inconsistency is likely to sink your product. Collectively, however, these flubs add up to tarnish your organization’s aura of professionalism.
Design Systems Give You The Tools For A Consistent User Experience
Design inconsistencies and mistakes are almost never malicious. Instead, mistakes like these result from lack of direction and faulty communication. Coordination can break down more easily in this age of multi-platform development. If you have different teams developing your product for Android and iPhone, it can be a chore to maintain adequate cross-communication between teams. That’s where the DS comes in handy. The right DS can bring order to the chaos that develops in the wake of ambitious projects. Without impinging on human creativity, the DS provides design teams with a more structured way to develop solutions for problems. The DS is composed of reusable components that you can combine in a wide variety of ways. With a good DS, you can build any number of applications without starting from scratch every time. Naturally, this can do wonders for your company’s efficiency. The DS is also helpful when it comes to scalability. No digital company can afford to build products in a slow, laborious manner. Without sacrificing quality, competitive modern companies have to be able to produce products quickly and to scale. The DS is a proven aid for achieving this.
Prominent Examples of Design Systems
AirBnB is one of the most prominent companies that relies on a DS. AirBnB’s vaunted Design Language System has helped make this one of the most talked-about digital disrupters of the era. Many other leading companies have also invested heavily in DSs. IBM even made their Carbon Design System public and started soliciting contributions from designers and developers worldwide.
With the right design system tools, you can take advantage of the new paradigm that is shaking up the design world at this very moment. With a DS, your developers and designers can reach their true potential in no time.
