Design Systems
A practical guide to creating design languages for digital products.
I suppose there’s no higher for a praise for a book than one that transforms your mindset towards a subject. Well, that’s what Design Systems accomplished for me.
If asked to build a design system, I’d jump to the tangible artifacts: an interface inventory and pattern library. These tools can provide a shared set of patterns, but, as Alla shows, a shared set of patterns is useless without a shared understanding of the patterns.
Two takeaways: Creating a design system is far more about orchestrating systems-thinking than creating specific tangible artifacts. Secondly, explain when and how to use a component. Don’t simply present your colors. Explain how to use each.
A well-written book backed by exhaustive research. I’ll be re-reading this on my next design systems project.