All posts about
Design systems

Gui Bonsiepe: Framing Design as Interface

So many gems from this historical perspective.

“Bonsiepe’s career may serve as a signal of where design is heading or even as a model for a new generation of designers — a model of how designers may explore the ‘space’ of design and also expand that space as they adapt to a continuously changing world.”

Hugh Dubberly a.k.a. /hughdubberly | @DubberlyDesign courtesy of jorge arango

A Content Model is not a Design System

System modelling applied to content a.k.a. information.

“Do you remember when having a great website was enough? Now, people are getting answers from Siri, Google search snippets, and mobile apps, not just our websites. Forward-thinking organizations have adopted an omnichannel content strategy, whose mission is to reach audiences across multiple digital channels and platforms.”

Mike Wills a.k.a. @HeyMikeWills ~ A List Apart

Digital experience systems: Expanding design systems to serve the full customer experience

The scope of design systems is getting larger and larger.

“​In this era of ever-evolving technology and innovation, organizations can no longer rely solely on a static dot-com to connect with customers. Increasingly, customer expectations are driving the need for an unprecedented mix of dynamic touch points, such as websites, customer portals, native mobile, wearables, chatbots, and voice interactions. Modern marketers need to manage these experiences intentionally and consistently to provide valuable brand interactions across the full customer experience. Further complicating the trend of multichannel experiences is a need within organizations to continually assess the impact and return on each customer touch point.”

Kristen Cromer ~ Adobe XD ideas

There is no design system

Tagged as ‘There is no such thing as’ a.k.a. #tinsta.

“​So in the design systems work we do, you often think of a style guide. Or a component library. Or a Sketch UI Kit. And there are arguments on whether either of those things can be called a design system if it doesn’t include this other thing or that other thing. We even talk about whether design systems are products or are more of a service. My take? The word “design” and “system” used in combination together literally just means to systemize your design (and in my world view that is more about the overall experience). And so if for you that means a Sketch UI Library, then you do you! My point is I think there is too much focus on the deliverables in the first place.”

Jina Anne ~ /sushiandrobots | @jina ~ 24 ways

Content: The design system element you forgot

Content, the orphan of design as always. We used to call it information, that helped.

“​Content and design are parallel, intertwined communication systems. They are fundamentally dependent on each other for successful outcomes. (…) Content and design can integrate right down to having repeatable variants and data references within design tokens. It’s entirely possible to integrate that deeply, and scale up content rapidly. So I don’t buy the arguments put forward so far that content doesn’t scale, or that it should be an afterthought.”

Kate Kenyon a.k.a. /katekenyon

The politics of design systems: Keeping stakeholders and UX teams invested through the process

Design systems, getting into the 2018 hype cycle.

“As digital ecosystems mature, a design system is rapidly moving from an innovation to a requirement for companies looking to execute quality design at scale. But framing the effort as a simple design and front-end development exercise minimizes the impact of the system on every aspect of the product design cycle. By recognizing and treating your design system effort as organizational change, enterprises are better equipped to set themselves up for success.”

Dani Nordin a.k.a. /daninordin | @danigrrl

Consolidating Design Systems: Over time, systems happen

Living design systems need to grow and flourish.

“A stronger system’s success places them in a powerful position to dictate terms. Acquired systems may bring weaker tools, processes, capacity and commitments from their leaders. Yet their core features may still be strong, as is their emotional tie to them. When talking mergers and acquisitions, “look into the books” of weaker system too. They may be looking for a way out, an existential lifeline, otherwise risking a fade into an abyss without a consolidation. These imbalances makes consolidation conversations difficult. Your goal? Realizing the promise of a thriving practice serving more teams at scale. So time to exercise some leadership and management to make consolidation best serve your community!”

Nathan Curtis a.k.a. /nathancurtis | @nathanacurtis

The UX of Design Systems: On Google’s Material Design and the templatization of digital products

Now that the hype on Google MD has faded, we’re waitng for the next killer DesSys.

“What is new is that today design systems can be more than printed design manuals. We have the ability to write design systems in code and use them directly in digital products. (…) All this critique of design systems is essentially an argument for UX designers to create design systems that grow from user-centric research. As UX designers, you are here to bridge the aesthetics with the functionality of digital products. Rather than starting with a fascination of design systems, you have to first of all focus on the user and let that inform your design system – and keep doing that over time. You have to argue for the process of understanding your users, talking to them, learning from them, and drawing up coherent systems that work on behalf of them. If you do this, systems are an incredibly powerful way of creating products that are beneficial to both companies and users.”

Rune Madsen a.k.a. @runemadsen

Computational design

Thinking, designing and doing with, by and for computers.

“Computational thinking refers to a deliberative process that finds a computational solution for a concern. Computational doing refers to use of computation and computational tools to address concerns. Computational design refers to creating new computational tools and methods that are adopted by the members of a community to address their concerns. Unfortunately, the definitions of both “thinking” and “doing” are fuzzy and have allowed misconceptions about the nature of algorithms. Fortunately, it is possible to eliminate the fuzziness in the definitions by focusing on computational design, which is at the intersection between thinking and doing. Computational design is what we are really after and would be a good substitute for computational thinking and doing. (…) Computational design is where the power of the computing revolution is showing up. Computational design is what we are really after and would be a good substitute for computational thinking and doing.”

Peter J. Denning a.k.a. /peter-denning ~ Ubiquity (August 2017)

Integrating animation into a design system

Perceived behavior of the machine triggers human behavior.

“Keeping animation choreography cohesive from the outset of a project can be challenging, especially for small companies. Without a dedicated motion specialist on the team, it can be difficult to prioritize guidelines and patterns early in the design process. What’s more likely to happen is that animations will be added as the product develops.”

Alla Kholmatova a.k.a. /allakholmatova | @craftui ~ A List Apart

DesignOps at Airbnb: How we manage effective design at scale

When things get a name.

“Working daily across so many disciplines, from Engineering to Product Management, Research, Content Strategy and an array of Design specialties, every little overhead in the transfer of information compounds. Inversely, every optimization and positive connection significantly lowers friction for everyone. This is why we’ve created DesignOps, to ease collaboration and amplify effectiveness, not only across product disciplines, but also between the increasingly complex world of Product Design.”

Adrian Cleave a.k.a. /adriancleave ~ Airbnb Design

How creating a design language can streamline your UX design process

Language being used in processes for communication and specifics.

“Around a year ago, while working at a digital agency, I was given the objective of streamlining our UX design process. Twelve months later, this article shares my thoughts and experiences on how lean thinking helped to instill efficiencies within our UX design process.”

Kyle Cassidy a.k.a. /kycassidy | @kyecass ~ Smashing Magazine

Creating a design system language

System thinking in a design context.

“It seems like the current buzz word in the design industry and everyone wants one. But how exactly can a product benefit from having a living, breathing design language? I’m going to try break down the very basics so you can understand why it’s needed. Creating an underlying language will unite our design philosophies and methodologies across our platform.”

Ezequiel Bruni a.k.a. @ezequielbruni ~ Webdesigner depot courtesy of @IAtv

Building a visual language: Behind the scenes of the new Airbnb design system

Personas, wireframes and customer journey maps. Now, design systems for visual designers. Each UX discipline has its own deliverable.

“Working in software development and design, we are often required to ship one-off solutions. Sometimes we’re working within time constraints and sometimes we just haven’t yet agreed upon a path forward. These one-off solutions aren’t inherently bad, but if they aren’t built upon a solid foundation, we eventually find ourselves having to pay back accrued technical and design debts. Visual language is like any other language. Misunderstandings arise if the language is not shared and understood by everyone using it. As a product or team grows, the challenges within these modalities compound.”

Karri Saarinen a.k.a. /karrisaarinen | @karrisaarinen ~ Airbnb Design

The rise of design systems

Design systems, not destinations.

“A fundamental shift is happening in the approach to designing cross-platform applications. Designers are moving away from focusing on individual styles, restricted grids and fixed components for singular platforms. Instead, we are focusing on sharing flexible design systems. These easily accessible online repositories include design principles to follow, responsive grid systems, reusable components and style guides with examples of what and what not to do.”

Andy McDonald ~ Electronic Ink