Design Systems
Welcome to this special edition of the SoDA Report on Design Systems, developed in partnership with Adobe.
While the principles of design systems have been around for a long time (one can see early incarnations in a mash-up of brand style guides, code libraries and carefully crafted wikis), there’s no doubt that they have emerged to tackle a uniquely modern challenge.
As interfaces proliferate and design teams collaborate across a wider and more distributed network of stakeholders (end-users, business leads, developers, empowered content creators, regionalized teams, and more), design systems can play a critical role in shaping the speed, consistency and scale at which design challenges and customer experience enhancements can be tackled. In fact, some would argue that design systems are absolutely essential for ensuring that these complex ecosystems don’t devolve into chaotic, inefficient and utterly disjointed landscapes.
But like any new method wrestling with emergent challenges, there is no unified perspective on design systems... how to make them, what role they should play and whether or not you even need one. Our authors tackle these questions from a number of angles and deliver well-rounded viewpoints on how to think about and approach design systems in your organization. And whether you are new to the topic or a seasoned veteran, our colleague at Adobe, Cisco Guzman, provides sage guidance for your journey:
“Design systems are not canons... that constrict creativity, or panaceas that eradicate inefficiency. They are communication technologies—environments in which designers, developers, contributors, and stakeholders consciously, collaboratively explore patterns by which meaningful, humane, and inclusive experiences can come to fruition.”