Do you have a Design System?

When every button looks a little different, spacing feels off, and handoffs between design and dev are painful, you know something's wrong. These issues lead to inconsistent UI, longer review cycles, and time wasted debating visual tweaks instead of building real value.

A design system can fix all of that—it aligns everyone around a shared language and provides the tools to build faster and better.

Video: Welcome to Design Systems – Lesson 1: Introduction to Design Systems (15 min)

Key components

A solid design system should include:

• Style guide and design tokens – Brand guidelines, color variables, typography, iconography, spacing grids, and accessibility guidance
• Component library – Reusable UI elements like buttons or inputs, built in your design tool with variants and usage guidance. May include page templates and broader patterns
• Documentation – Guidelines for component usage, do’s and don’ts, examples and demos
• Design system governance – Clear ownership of the design system, a contribution process, tools for dev handover, and semantic versioning to manage updates

Why it works

• One source of truth – Everyone (designers, developers, POs, QA) works from the same playbook, avoiding continuous rework and reducing inconsistency. Changes are made in one place which scales across projects
• Faster build time – Shared components and patterns boost delivery speed
• Accessibility baked-in – Standards like contrast, keyboard nav, and screen-reader support come by default
• Fewer subjective debates – Shared standards help teams align faster

Signs you’re due for a Design System

• Spacing, fonts, or colors shift between screens for no reason
• Handoffs and review meetings are dominated by nitpicking visual issues
• Design doesn’t match production
• Style guides are outdated, scattered, or missing entirely

Real-world examples

• Material Design (Google)
  Theming, deep docs, and ready-to-use code
• Polaris (Shopify)
  Design, content, and accessibility all-in-one
• Carbon (IBM)
  Enterprise-level, open source, and WCAG-compliant
• Atlassian Design System
  Includes tokens, patterns, tone of voice, and code

Design System maturity: From Library to Ecosystem

Design systems don’t need to be fully built from day one. There are different levels of implementation depending on the maturity of the team/product.

Since “design system” is often used loosely, this table helps clarify where your team sits and what to aim for next:

Stage	Description
1. Design Library	A shared file (e.g. Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD) with consistent styles and reusable components like buttons and inputs.
2. Documented System	Adds usage guidelines, naming conventions, do's and don'ts, accessibility considerations, and basic governance (who owns updates).
3. Design–Dev Alignment	Design tokens are mapped to code, creating a shared language between design and development for color, spacing, and other foundational styles.
4. Coded Components	Components exist in code (e.g. Storybook) and match the Design Library.
5. Scalable Ecosystem	Includes formal governance processes, versioning, contribution model, changelogs, multi-product usage. Often has its own site or portal.

Start small in 7 steps

1. Audit your UI – Look for visual and structural inconsistencies
2. Define tokens – Start with color, spacing, and typography
3. Build your first components – Focus on core UI elements (i.e. header, footer, buttons, input fields)
4. Integrate tokens – Start with simple design tokens in your design tool, then explore code integration tools like Style Dictionary as your system matures
5. Document as you go – Add usage rules, visual examples, and versioning
6. Share internally – Use demos and changelogs to get buy-in
7. Govern wisely – Assign owners, plan updates, and gradually layer in code