📝 Articles
Measuring Design System compliance of your teams
Jérôme from Doctolib shares how they measure and improve design system compliance across their teams using tools like the OxyScan Figma plugin and custom dashboards. By tracking and visualising compliance in both design files and production code, they have significantly increased adherence to their design system, making it easier to maintain consistency and reduce technical debt. Their next goal is to extend these measurements to assess component quality and accessibility.
Going offroad for a better design system
Trip compares building a flexible design system to the versatility of their Nissan Xterra, emphasising the need for structure and adaptability in design systems. They describe how Cisco's Momentum design system balances these elements through tokens, training, documentation, and user feedback, aiming to empower designers and engineers by making the system both consistent and flexible to meet various needs across the organisation.
Start small, aim big: Designing an approach to creating technical diagrams
Will Burroughs and Ya Qing Chen from IBM share their journey of creating a Figma library to streamline the creation of technical diagrams for complex software products. Originally aimed at improving their team's workflow, the library has now benefited 94 teams within IBM and the wider open-source community, demonstrating the power of collaboration and thinking beyond immediate needs.
👀 Interesting Reads
Domo Design System. How we built a design system in a startup company
Henrique describes leading the creation of the Domo Design System at SenseData, aiming to improve scalability, standardisation, and collaboration between design and development. Starting from visual inconsistency mapping to component development with React and design tokens, the team reduced project development time and enhanced productivity. The system increased efficiency and knowledge sharing, resulting in reusable components and 50% faster prototyping. Domo DS won first place in the company's 2022 SKR project awards.
Are design systems just a bandaid?
Beau suggests that while design systems can improve efficiency and consistency, they might only act as a temporary fix if deeper organizational issues aren't addressed. By diagnosing, treating, and following up on the root causes of problems, teams can use design systems to drive meaningful and lasting change, rather than just applying a bandaid to more significant issues.
Design Systems Should Do Less
Josh proposes that design systems should focus on core components and maintain flexibility, rather than trying to manage too many specific elements. This approach allows teams to innovate and adapt while preventing the system from becoming bloated and difficult to maintain.
🖤 Design Systems
🎧 🎥 📊 Audio / Video / Slides
🎥 Creating multi-channel multi-theme connected libraries in Figma
Andreamorgan, Jack, and Ryan from Ford Motor Company explain how they evolved their design system using Figma’s variable features to streamline processes for multiple brands and platforms. They discuss how centralising resources and reducing complexity improves collaboration, consistency, and efficiency across platforms like mobile and in-vehicle screens, helping to maintain a unified user experience.