Design systems have been gaining popularity, becoming essential tools for creating digital products in many organisations. Understanding their value and functionality can yield numerous benefits, including time savings and cost reduction. In this article, we will explore what design systems are, how they are created, and the advantages they offer.
What is a design system?
In simple terms, a design system is a library of reusable components accompanied by guidelines for their use. It serves as a comprehensive guide that enables the effective and consistent design of interfaces within digital projects such as websites, mobile, or web applications. The primary goal of a design system is to establish a set of predefined elements that can be used repeatedly.
In recent years, design systems have become increasingly important due to the rising complexity of digital projects and the need for consistency across multiple communication channels. Unlike traditional design methods, a design system offers ready-made components and principles that can be applied to various projects, significantly accelerating the creative process.
The value of a design system
A design system not only facilitates the building of complex websites but also ensures uniformity and intuitiveness, which are key to maintaining a consistent visual identity and a cohesive user experience across the product.
Consistency and uniformity
Maintaining consistency becomes progressively challenging as a business grows. For companies operating across multiple digital channels, ensuring visual consistency is crucial for building a strong and recognisable brand. A design system provides immense value by ensuring uniformity across different platforms.
A brand typically develops a brand book to outline the rules and guidelines for using visual elements. This ensures that the logo is always presented according to specific rules — regardless of who is responsible for designing the leaflet, business card or billboard.
While a brand book offers graphical guidelines, a design system provides a comprehensive set of rules for UX designers, graphic designers, and developers to follow, ensuring consistent application.
Speed of implementation
One of the most significant advantages of a design system is the ability to use pre-designed, reusable components. Designers do not need to create a new button every time; they can simply use an existing button from the system, which includes all states and variants as functional components. Similarly, developers can utilise ready-made code, greatly speeding up the creation and implementation of new features and services.
Easy expansion
Expanding a design system is straightforward. Adding new components or updating existing ones occurs in a central location, ensuring that changes are automatically reflected across all projects using the system. This simplifies the maintenance process and ensures that updates are consistently applied.
Effective team collaboration
By working from a single, up-to-date source of truth, project teams — both internal and external — can collaborate more efficiently. A design system reduces the need for detailed communication about component design and functionality, expediting the design and implementation process.
When is a design system beneficial?
A design system offers advantages on many levels and positively impacts various aspects of a company’s operations. It is particularly useful in the following scenarios:
- Large and complex interfaces: Design systems are especially helpful in large, complex projects where maintaining visual and functional consistency is challenging.
- Multiple services and applications: For brands operating on several different digital platforms, a design system ensures a consistent user experience across all platforms.
- Long-term development: Companies planning the long-term development of their digital channels can benefit from starting work on a design system with new projects, providing a solid foundation for future activities.
The process of creating a design system
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a design system, as much depends on the project’s purpose and context. However, most situations require going through four key stages:
Identification and needs analysis
The first step is a thorough needs analysis and defining the system’s purpose. This stage aims to understand the problems the design system is intended to solve and the objectives it aims to support.
Development of design styles and principles
The next step involves creating design styles and principles, including typography, colors, and other visual elements. These rules form the basis for creating components and ensure consistency throughout the system.
Developing the component library
At this stage, specific components — such as buttons, forms, and complete modules — are created, along with documentation describing their function and use. This is a crucial part of the design system, enabling effective utilization by project teams.
Implementation and maintenance
The final phase is the implementation of the design system and its ongoing maintenance. Regular updates and patches are essential to ensure the system continues to meet the organization’s needs.
Summary
A design system is an effective tool that can significantly reduce the time required to design and implement digital products. Shorter development times translate to lower costs and greater flexibility, making design systems increasingly important in the dynamic digital world.
At Infinity Group, we often work on design systems, either created by our clients or developed as part of a framework we offer. If you are interested in effectively using a design system in your websites and applications, contact us via the form below.
