Summary
An essential part of creating a Design System is to make distribution and content flow sustainable. When the task is bringing the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet, the challenge gets massive! How can DesignOps and Automation become a facilitator for this challenge? Join Senior Software Engineer & Designer Luca Rager from Xbox as he takes us through their innovative take on design systems. Luca will illustrate how Sketch’s flexibility and modern DesignOps automation has allowed Xbox to package, theme and easily distribute component libraries. Furthermore, how their system bridges the gap between the Xbox Design System team and the wider product teams at Xbox.
Key Insights
-
•
Xbox Design System supports four themes including high contrast to ensure broad accessibility.
-
•
The component library needed to work across multiple platforms: TV, desktop, and mobile.
-
•
Theme customization is achieved by swapping foundational Sketch libraries rather than relying on overrides.
-
•
Every component and foundation (theme file) exists as its own Sketch file to support clarity and easy iteration.
-
•
Clyde, an internal automated tool, packages components into Sketch libraries and generates design tokens for engineers.
-
•
The design system team focused on creating easy-to-adopt kits for product designers to reduce complexity and improve uptake.
-
•
Multidisciplinary team members, including designers with engineering skills, help bridge gaps between disciplines.
-
•
Accessibility experts are embedded in the design process, enriching documentation and audits within the system.
-
•
Governance balances flexibility for product teams to propose and customize components with ensuring consistency from the core team.
-
•
Integration with Microsoft tools like Azure and Teams allows realtime notifications and seamless collaboration around design system updates.
Notable Quotes
"Gaming is for everyone anywhere, and Xbox has evolved way beyond the box under your TV."
"Our mission required us to build something fast, flexible, and scalable across many different product needs."
"A button is just a rectangle with some text, but our magic is in how we theme and customize it using foundations."
"Instead of overrides, we swap out entire theme files to customize components for different product teams."
"We realized the real problem was a people problem, not just tooling complexity."
"Sketch’s open file format allowed us to build custom tooling that shapes the design data to our needs."
"Clyde runs every time there’s a change, generating libraries and tokens to keep everyone up to date."
"Engineers love having individual components in files because it makes implementation much easier."
"Design system adoption exploded when we focused on the needs of everyone who builds, extends, or uses it."
"Accessibility and research are part of our org, not just consultants, which makes a huge difference in quality."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Service design is 10% connecting the dots and 90% creating the conditions that bring those dots closer together."
Gina MendoliaTherapists, Coaches, and Grandmas: Techniques for Service Design in Complex Systems
December 3, 2024
"Principles give unity and organization to a product, system, or human experience, not just guidelines or rules of thumb."
Richard BuchananCreativity and Principles in the Flourishing Enterprise
June 15, 2018
"Consistency means the same interactions always do the same things; buttons are in the same place, and flows don’t change suddenly."
Sam ProulxOnline Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
November 29, 2023
"Don’t let the title ‘product designer’ intimidate you if you do UI and UX; it’s broader than big platforms."
Dave Hoffer Joanne WeaverUX Job Search AMA #3 with Joanne Weaver and Dave Hoffer
July 16, 2025
"We're at a pivotal moment where technology can truly make a difference in sustainability."
Ash BrownSilver Linings: What DesignOps Learned in the Shift to WFH
October 23, 2020
"When the ground shifts beneath us, we get to decide, do we scramble to regain our footing exactly where we stood before? Or do we take a step in a new direction, explore new terrain, and expand the boundaries of what’s possible?"
Megan BlockerTheme 2 Intro
March 12, 2025
"Two companies, Klarna and Duolingo, went all in on AI replacing humans and then recanted - Christopher."
Bria Alexander Brittany Hobbs Christopher NoesselDay 1 Panel: Up to the Minute: The latest in AI’s impact on UX
June 10, 2025
"Designers can be first responders, not just in digital but in real disaster situations."
Lada GorlenkoTheme 2 Intro
June 9, 2022
"A company needs a triple win cultural role speaking to its commitment, user needs, and wider cultural tension."
Neil BarrieWidening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture
March 25, 2024
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
How can small government design teams leverage knowledge management to drive capacity building across diverse agencies?
How does version control and governance work for AI-generated design system repositories?
What are effective strategies to map and improve the designer's journey within a growing tech company?