Designing & building software is complex. Design systems have become a popular solution to help design teams streamline processes and produce great experiences. However, designing a design system is no small task - Let's explore some of the ups and downs, as well as a few tips and tricks for managing a design system project. Originally presented at Managing Design 2017 in Melbourne. (a UX Australia conference event)

1. MANAGING
DESIGN SYSTEM
Laura Van Doore
PROJECTS

2. Designing & building
software is complex.

3. ‣ Too many cooks.
Multiple feature teams contributing to one core product.
‣ Scalability
Needing code & design to scale up to larger products &
more comprehensive features.
Challenges in building great products:

4. ‣ The nightmare of designing for configuration
‣ Supporting multiple platforms & devices
Challenges in building great products:

5. “A fractured process makes for
a fractured user experience.”
- NATE FORTIN

6. So how can we design the
process in order to deliver
better products & experiences?

7. Answer:
A DESIGN SYSTEM

8. Design System Style Guide
‣ Design Principles
‣ UX & Accessibility Metrics
‣ Animation Principles
‣ Coding Standards
‣ Voice & tone Guidelines
‣ Style Guide & Design Resources
‣ Key UX Personas
‣ Typography
‣ Colour Palettes
‣ Component Styling
‣ Grids
‣ Code samples

9. Design System Style Guide ≠

10. 2 tales of fails

11. #1
What’s in a name?

12. PRO TIP:
Developers love APIs

13. The importance of a name
Sometimes all the resistance and
misunderstandings are due to the teams previous
negative experiences with style guides.
Repositioning the project might be just the ticket.

14. #2
Invisible Pains

15. 40 SHADES
of light grey

16. Tease out the invisible pains
Find those invisible pain points in your product
development processes & among teams.
Addressing the pain points of key team members
will help feed an advocacy for the project

17. Key Lessons

18. Building a Design System is a
marathon, not a sprint.
(Sorry Scrum Masters)

19. EXPECTATION
REALITY
vs

20. Don’t think of it like a project.

21. Approach it like a product.
With a roadmap, objectives &
many different groups of users.

22. “A Design System isn’t a Project.
It’s a Product, Serving Products.”
Nathan Curtis from @eightshapes

23. Take stock of where you are.

24. It might look something like this …

25. Create order out of the chaos …

26. Define a new structure.

27. Define a new structure
‣ Atoms & Molocules?

28. Define a new structure
GE Predix System

29. Throughout the whole process,
Evangelise.

30. The first challenge is building a
design system.
The second challenge is getting
someone to care.

31. Thanks
Laura Van Doore
www.lauravandoore.com