Why design systems are a real game changer?
You’ve probably heard or at some point created brand guidelines for your website. You might be wondering why do you need design system?
Before we get this let’s talk about what the design system is. Design system is a library of components that can be reused in different variations. Design systems will work well on a mobile as well as a website. With a design system, you can build bridges between design and development teams.
Why you should start using a design system?
• it eliminates inconsistencies
• it speeds up Your Process
• it makes your Customers’ Lives Easier
You might be asking what’s the difference between the design system and style guides.
Design System is the complete set of design standards, documentation, and principles such as UI patterns and code snippets.
Design System includes pattern Library – A subclass in the design system, this is the set of design patterns for use across a company.
The style guide is basically a subclass of the design system. It’s the documentation which describes the design system itself: how products should look and feel, use cases for UI patterns, correct typographic scales, etc.
But what does a website look and feel like when it’s built with a design system? Actually, it performs better as we don’t use unwanted snippets of code and it’s easier to follow.
With design systems, you create cleaner code and beautiful elements faster than ever before. Some of the biggest players have launched their own design systems and made it public for free.
Airbnb recently launched their design system. https://airbnb.design/building-a-visual-language/
Other companies who have launched their design systems: Salesforce Lightning Design System, Invision, UXPin, Shopify. I highly recommend checking them out and experimenting with them.
You can also create your very own design system and apply it to your next website. This can speed up dramatically the process of development.
How to create your own design system? There are lots of rules but I’m going to talk about a few.
1.Start by creating the UI inventory. List and describe all of the design patterns currently used in your interface and note the inconsistencies.
2.Create design principles: Codify your practices. Code the UI elements and start working on the style guide for the design system.
3.Build the color palette: Look for duplicated shades of color and use only colors that are necessary. Create the palette and its naming convention.
4. Build the typography of your design system. Think about a responsive solution that can easily translate on any device. You fonts should look good whether it’s a desktop or a mobile application. When you’re creating fonts rules for your styling classes consider not only size of the font, but also weight, line-height, and other properties.
I hope this article will give you a good introduction to design systems.