📝 Articles
Design systems don’t kill creativity – our biases do
Donnie explores how cognitive biases, such as Functional Fixedness and the Bandwagon Effect, can stifle creativity in design. He argues that design systems don’t kill creativity; rather, biases limit possibilities. By challenging established patterns and embracing constraints, designers can foster innovation. Minimalism in design tokens can also reduce decision fatigue, unlocking creative potential.
Slots in Design Systems
Nathan discusses using slots in design systems to enhance flexibility and scalability. Unlike traditional inheritance, slots allow customizable areas within components, enabling designers and developers to adapt layouts and content easily. He highlights the benefits of slots, including improved collaboration and the ability to create complex components while maintaining consistency, advocating for a composable approach that empowers teams to innovate.
3 practical ways LLMs can support design systems teams today
Elyse discusses how LLMs can support design systems teams by addressing practical challenges rather than just generating components. Key applications include automating API changes, enabling real-time interactions during design, and keeping example components updated. By focusing on these areas, LLMs enhance collaboration and streamline maintenance, reinforcing the value of design systems.
👀 Interesting Reads
The Messy Truth About Design Handoff: Our Journey From Figma to Zeplin and Back
Andrea shares their journey of transitioning from Figma to Zeplin and back to Figma for design handoffs. Initially, Figma worked for designers but confused stakeholders and developers. Zeplin introduced new challenges, like disconnected screens. After gathering feedback, the team restructured Figma and integrated Azure for approvals, streamlining the process and enhancing communication, showing that effective handoff relies on user needs rather than just new tools.
Hydra: building a scalable Design System for La Roche-Posay
Daniel explains how component variants enhance design system flexibility, allowing for easy reuse and adaptation of components. By utilising design tokens, teams can create reusable components that fit various contexts. The process involves defining components, creating variants, and organising design tokens to ensure consistency, ultimately streamlining workflows and empowering teams to innovate while maintaining clarity.
What’s new in the Design Tokens spec: From static to living design data
Kathleen discusses the evolution of design tokens from static values to dynamic, contextual design data that enhances scalability and consistency across platforms. The Design Tokens W3C Community Group has introduced updates like modern color specifications, component structure with inheritance, and token resolvers to manage complexity. These changes enable teams to maintain a single source of truth for design decisions, improving cross-platform workflows and user experiences.
🛠 Tutorials
How To Leverage Component Variants In Penpot
Daniel discusses leveraging component variants in Penpot to enhance design system flexibility and scalability. By utilising design tokens, teams can create reusable components that adapt easily to various contexts. They emphasise the importance of planning and structuring components to accommodate future needs, ultimately making design systems more efficient and manageable while allowing for innovation without sacrificing clarity.
🖤 Design Systems
Mews Design System
MDS is the Design System for mews.com, designed to enhance the Mews product experience. It combines working code, design tools, and human interface guidelines, supported by a community of contributors. MDS provides resources for onboarding, foundational elements like color and typography, and documentation for web and mobile components.