Bit - components as building blocks

Imagine all your components organized on the cloud, made discoverable for your team and synced in all your projects. That’s Bit.

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Remembering Yahoo Design Pattern Library

One of the very first large-scale pattern libraries I can remember seeing on the web was Yahoo’s Design Pattern Library. Each pattern outlined:

- the problem being solved;

- when to use this pattern;

- when not to use this pattern.

This was in 2006 … and Yahoo was late in the game.

Let’s not lose sight of thevalue of a design system. If components are the trees, the design system is the forest.

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7 Benefits of our Maturing Design System

Establishes a Common Language

Makes Development and Testing Easier

Saves Time & Effort

Helps Unify Brand Experience

Flexibly Designed Patterns & Components Help with Speed to Market

Publish to Any Device, Fluid Layouts, Responsive Design

Future-Friendly Platform to Build Upon

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The Design System Product

The very beginning …

What is the goal of the design system?

What problems will it solve in the organisation?

What does success look like and how do we measure it?

Who are the users and how do they work?

Who are the customers and what problems are we solving for them?

Who are the buyers and how do we communicate the benefits to them?

How many teams will use the system and what are their priorities?

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Yes, design systems will replace design jobs

Yes, design systems will replace many design jobs as we know them today — they already have. Interface development patterns, processes and tools are like interchangeable parts and factory assembly lines — tools of industrial productivity that enable fewer people to create the same product as before.

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How to build Design Systems to Scale

Check if you really need a design system

Make sure your people know what to expect

Develop a game plan

Review and adopt best practices

Conduct a UX/UI audit

Do it little by little

Stay organized

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Design Systems Are For People

What You’ll Learn

Build a community culture that empowers teams to make change, work productively, and creatively to solve problems

Use design principles to inform your design system, lead design critiques, and drive decisions

Explore materials (documentation) and non-materials (shared language and nomenclature) that encompass a design system

Why shared ownership of your design system is critical to creating a transparent, collaborative, and inclusive community

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Random Thoughts on Design Systems from Recent Experience

I loved:

If a design system is treated as a side project, it’ll probably fail. Getting executive air cover should be one of the first steps. Getting a product manager is a bonus. The more you do to treat it as product or client work, the better.

Real agree, not begrudgingly agree. It’s ok to spend a lot of time here, it’ll pay off in the long run.

And

A design system can make design software less relevant (and that’s ok). Sometimes I go straight from wireframes to code. Why build a picture of the design when I could just build the design?

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