Summary
?Design systems are becoming more prevalent in how digital teams design sustainably at scale. Join Design System University founder Dan Mall in this “Ask Me Anything” session about design systems and learn more about his soon-to-be-released book, Design That Scales: Creating a Sustainable Design System Practice.
Key Insights
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Design systems must be treated as ongoing practices rather than one-off projects.
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The effectiveness of design systems improves when they are developed in-house rather than imported from external consultants.
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Sustainability in design systems involves aligning them with organizational priorities and workflows.
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Educational resources like Design Systems University are vital for fostering knowledge and collaboration.
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Using an 80/20 rule encourages teams to explore custom designs while leveraging design system components effectively.
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Successful integration requires transparency about development roadmaps and early involvement of design teams in decision-making processes.
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Design systems should be holistic, encompassing not just UI components but also processes and workflows.
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Good change management reduces the anxiety surrounding new design system implementations.
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Tracking early invitations for design system teams into projects can be a key success metric.
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A healthy ratio of design ops personnel to designers helps ensure effective support and scalability of design systems.
Notable Quotes
"A lot of people think about design systems as a project."
"The goal is...this is the way that we do work."
"Design systems should capture the reality of your organization."
"We only gonna focus on that 20%, 30%, 50% that are...that a thousand constituents need right now."
"You can't build a design system like you build a microsite."
"If you can eliminate the surprise part of it, the change actually becomes more palatable."
"What I find is there are always non-ideal ways to do work, but that's the reality of how some organizations work."
"We have to give our teams better prompts on how to use a design system."
"It's not that people dislike change; it's that the change management process is not done."
"I'm not a content expert, I like working with folks who have that specialty."
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