LET'S WORK TOGETHER!@brad_frost
OUR WORK IS DONE
WITH OTHER PEOPLE
FOR OTHER PEOPLE
SLACK GIF
HOW DO WE WORK WITH 

EACH OTHER?
HOW DO WE TALK TO 

EACH OTHER?
HOW DO WE COORDINATE WITH 

EACH OTHER?
HOW DO WE COLLABORATE WITH 

EACH OTHER?
SPACES VS TABS SKETCH VS PHOTOSHOP GIF VS GIF
GRUNT VS GULP NPM VS YARN
FILE STRUCTURE
BEM VS SMACSS
FLAT VS SKEUOMORPHIC
AZURE VS INDESIGN REACT VS VUE
PROGRESSIVE ENHANCEMENT VS SINGLE PAGE APPS
ANGULAR VS EMBER
NATIVE VS WEB
SVG VS ICON FONTS
WORDPRESS VS DRUPAL
PHP VS RUBY VS NODE VS PYTHON
SASS VS LESS
complete chaos stifling rigidity
PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES


discipline
team
teams
department
company


discipline
team
teams
department
company
marketing
sales
engineering
digital
hr
customer

support
r&d
accounting
management
administration
marketing
sales
engineering
digital
hr
customer

support
r&d
accounting
management
administration
marketing
sales
engineering
digital
hr
customer

support
r&d
accounting
management
administration


principles & guidelines
marketing
sales
engineering
digital
hr
customer

support
r&d
accounting
management
administration
MISSION
https://www.charitywater.org/about/mission.php
COMPANY VALUES
ZAPPOS 10 CORE VALUES
๏ Deliver WOW Through Service
๏ Embrace and Drive Change
๏ Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
๏ Be Adventurous, Creative, and
Open-Minded
๏ Pursue Growth and Learning
๏ Build Open and Honest
Relationships With Communication
๏ Build a Positive Team and 

Family Spirit
๏ Do More With Less
๏ Be Passionate and Determined
๏ Be Humble
https://www.zapposinsights.com/about/core-values
CULTURE
–Chris Edmonds
An organizational constitution specifies your team’s
purpose, values and behaviors, strategies, and goals. 

It creates “liberating rules” that help leaders and
team members understand exactly how they are
expected to treat each other and their customers.
http://thecultureengine.com/


discipline
team
teams
department
company
management
public relations
research
digital
social
creative
services
analysis
cmo
vp
assistants
management
public relations
research
digital
social
creative
services
analysis
cmo
vp
assistants
management
public relations
research
digital
social
creative
services
analysis
cmo
vp
assistants


principles & guidelines
management
public relations
research
digital
social
creative
services
analysis
cmo
vp
assistants
BRAND GUIDELINES
https://design.ubuntu.com/brand/
VOICE AND TONE
GUIDELINES
voiceandtone.com


discipline
team
teams
department
company
team 1
team 2
team 3
team 4
team 5
team 7
team 6
team 9
team 10
team 8
team 1
team 2
team 3
team 4
team 5
team 7
team 6
team 9
team 10
team 8
SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE SYNDROME
team 1
team 2
team 3
team 4
team 5
team 7
team 6
team 9
team 10
team 8


principles & guidelines
team 1
team 2
team 3
team 4
team 5
team 7
team 6
team 9
team 10
team 8
DESIGN SYSTEMS!
https://lightningdesignsystem.com/
https://material.io/guidelines/
http://carbondesignsystem.com/


discipline
team
teams
department
company
backend
content
frontend
ux
visual
manager
frontend
backend
ux
qa
backend
content
frontend
ux
visual
manager
frontend
backend
ux
qa
backend
content
frontend
ux
visual
manager
frontend
backend
ux
qa


principles & guidelines
backend
content
frontend
ux
visual
manager
frontend
backend
ux
qa


discipline
team
teams
department
company
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend


principles & guidelines
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
frontend
CODE STYLE GUIDES
code block
.thisishowwedoit {
}
CSS SYNTAX GUIDELINES
code block
.this-is-how-we-do-it {
}
CSS SYNTAX GUIDELINES
code block
.thisIsHowWeDoIt {
}
CSS SYNTAX GUIDELINES
code block
.this__is__how__we__do—-it {
}
CSS SYNTAX GUIDELINES
code block
.- -...- - ..- - —— .. . ..—— — {
}
CSS SYNTAX GUIDELINES


discipline
team
teams
department
company


discipline
team
teams
department
company
design systems
BENEFITS OF DESIGN SYSTEMS
๏ Promotes UI consistency & cohesion = more conversions & $$$$$
๏ Faster production = roll out more features & iterations faster than ever
๏ Shared vocabulary = more time collaborating & less time in meetings
๏ Easier to test = more responsive, performant, and accessible experiences
๏ Useful reference = an essential resource and hub for best practices
๏ Future-friendly foundation = modify, extend, & improve upon over time
MAKING DESIGN SYSTEMS HAPPEN
RESEARCH & USER INTERVIEWS
"You can probably carbon date our UIs 

based on the design."
"The main challenges are the existing thousands of
lines of code, acquisitions, and existing suite of
technologies that makes up a billion dollars a year.
We'd like to not lose that billion dollars."
"There's a lot of institutional knowledge here locked up
in people's heads. Slack channels are great, but it
becomes a scavenger hunt to find information about
how something's supposed to work."
"For a basic expand/collapse pattern, the devs spent 2
days going to different teams to find the code, then still
had to rebuild it themselves."
USER INTERVIEWS
๏ Round up a diverse group of stakeholders,users,and other
people who would impact/be impacted by a design system
๏ Talk about current workflow,pain points,hopes,fears,
dreams,frustrations,and other things that can influence
the success of the design project
๏ Latch onto poignant quotes and emerging themes
๏ Start shaping the story and key themes in preparation 

for kickoff
KICKOFF WORKSHOP
PRIORITIES EXERCISE
]
PRIORITIES WORKSHOP
๏ Discuss emerging themes from interviews and introduce
potential principles and tactics
๏ Give each person 5 votes for principles they care most about
๏ Discuss principles.What won?What lost?Why?
๏ Give each person 5 votes for tactics/features they care most
about.
๏ Goal is to align around a set of shared principles and priorities
for the design system
REGROUP & NEXT STEPS
REGROUP & NEXT STEPS
๏ Recap the day's events; talk about the outcomes
๏ Make sure to cover any lingering questions,concerns,and
other words of wisdom that will help the design system be
successful
๏ Explain what happens next and how they can stay involved
with the design system process
๏ Pizza party.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
–Luke Wroblewski
Design principles are the guiding light for any software
application. They articulate the fundamental goals that all
decisions can be measured against and thereby keep the
pieces of a project moving toward an integrated whole.
https://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?854
PROCESS PRODUCT
DESIGN SYSTEM PROCESS PRINCIPLES
๏ Make the best thing the 

easiest thing
๏ Design for “grab it quick”
efficiency
๏ Design for contribution 

and community
๏ Crowd-proof the markup
๏ Fit the workflow
๏ Just enough documentation
๏ Technology agnostic
๏ Embed the brand in the code
๏ Consistent, not homogenous
๏ Opinionated defaults
๏ Make people smarter just 

by using it
DESIGN SYSTEM PRODUCT PRINCIPLES
๏ Just enough interface
๏ Strong and direct
๏ Speed is a feature
๏ Adaptable density
๏ Safety always
๏ No tricks or stunts
๏ Recycle, reduce, reuse
6 COUNTER-INTUITIVE TESTS FOR CREATING DESIGN PRINCIPLES
๏ Does it come directly from research?
๏ Does it help you say ‘No’ most of the time?
๏ Does it distinguish your design from your competitors?
๏ Is it something you might reverse in a future release?
๏ Have you evaluated it for this project?
๏ Is its meaning constantly tested?
https://articles.uie.com/creating-design-principles/
DESIGN PRINCIPLES UNDERPIN EVERY
BUSINESS, DESIGN, & DEV DECISION
PREPARING TO CREATE
INTRADISCIPLINARY INTERDISCIPLINARY
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/how-to/creative-cloud-libraries.html
https://www.figma.com/
https://www.invisionapp.com/craft
https://brand.ai/sketch
http://photoshopetiquette.com/
https://github.com/bradfrost/frontend-guidelines-questionnaire
WHAT ARE SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES YOUR
TEAM SHOULD FOLLOW WHEN WRITING HTML?
SPACES OR TABS?
SMACSS, BEM OR OTHER METHODOLOGY?
WHAT TOOLS (SASS, NORMALIZE, AUTOPREFIXER, ETC)
DOES YOUR TEAM RELY ON TO WRITE CSS?
WHAT JS TOOLS (JQUERY, REACT, ANGULAR, POLYFILLS,
DEPENDENCIES) DOES YOUR TEAM RELY ON?
THE WORKSHOP AND THE STOREFRONT
http://styleguides.io/tools.html
http://http://patternlab.io
Pattern Lab Grunt/Gulp copy task Style Guide
http://bradfrost.github.io/style-guide-guide/
http://bradfrost.github.io/style-guide-guide/
https://github.com/bradfrost/style-guide-guide
INTRADISCIPLINARY INTERDISCIPLINARY
comp production
DESIGN TOKENS
https://www.lightningdesignsystem.com/design-tokens/
native appscommunications intranetmarketing site product
native appscommunications intranetmarketing site product
design tokens
native appscommunications intranetmarketing site product
design tokens
implementation-agnostic
source of truth
DESIGN TOKEN PROPERTIES
๏ Background colors
๏ Type colors
๏ Font families
๏ Font sizes
๏ Font weights
๏ Line Heights
๏ Border colors
๏ Border thicknesses
๏ Border radii
๏ Animation speeds
๏ Media queries
๏ Margins
๏ Padding
http://link.com
https://brand.ai/
http://airbnb.design/painting-with-code/
THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR HUMAN
COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION
http://trentwalton.com/2011/07/14/content-choreography/
whiteboard
sketch working product
that tool you've
spent 7 years
mastering
>
COLLABORATION AND COMMUNICATION
BEAT DELIVERABLES
complete chaos stifling rigidity


discipline
team
teams
department
company
humanity


discipline
team
teams
department
company
atomicdesign.bradfrost.com
THANK YOU!@brad_frost bradfrost.com

Let's Work Together!