With this presentation, we look at updated research about content in design systems. We’ll see the results of a survey of publicly available systems and assess how they do or don’t include content. (There's good news and ... opportunities.) And we’ll also talk about the contributions content professionals can bring to design systems. These contributions stretch beyond documentation and voice and tone guidelines. There’s a long list of things content strategists can bring to both design and systems. Let’s talk about them and how you and your organization can take steps to make them happen.

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Date created
Last updated
Deck owner
Doubt, daring, and documentation
Reevaluating content in design systems
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Information Architecture Conference
April 2022
Michael Haggerty-Villa
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I have doubts.
I have such doubts.
John Patrick Shanley
Doubt

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Reasonable doubts • Next big things

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Reasonable doubts • Next big things

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What’s up, docs?

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Date created
Last updated
Deck owner
Curiosity, daring, hope, and hard work
Reevaluating content in design systems
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Information Architecture Conference
April 2022
Michael Haggerty-Villa
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1. Reviewing where we are
2. Redoing the research
3. Reevaluating the role of content in design
systems
4. Reconsidering next steps
Doubt, daring, documentation

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Reviewing where we are
The good news

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Where we are • Good news from Adobe

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Where we are • Bright news from Morningstar

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Where we are • UX Writers Collective

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Where we are • Design Systems Content Club

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Reviewing where we are
The opportunities

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Where we are: opportunities in branding

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Where we are: opportunities for content in living languages

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Content guidelines, without the content

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Where we are: opportunities for designing for all the content all the time

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Opportunities: Research from zeroheight (How We Document, 2022)

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Opportunities: Research from zeroheight (How We Document, 2022)

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Opportunities: Research from zeroheight (How We Document, 2022)

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Redoing the research
Surprises and progress

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What’s missing
Five content elements in design systems
• Content
• Editorial style
• Voice and tone
• Real content in components and patterns
• Content patterns or types
• Brand

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2018 Research
An audit of 60 select design system sites
Content
Style
Voice
Real copy
Patterns
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
All numbers are percentages.

24. 24 Intuit Confidential and Proprietary
2018 Research | 2022 Research
An audit of 60 select design system sites
Content
Style
Voice
Real copy
Patterns
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
All numbers are percentages.

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Validating the numbers: Research from zeroheight (How We Document, 2022)
32%
47%

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Beyond the numbers
Surprises and observations
● Some new 5-start sites (Morningstar, Atlassian, and others)
● Some sites went away because of business challenges
(WeWork)
● One site is unavailable because of the war
● Storybook shifts
This last bullet item gives way to new thinking about
documentation, where it lives, who writes it, where it is delivered

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Reevaluating the role of
content in design systems
Meaning, purpose, humanity

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● Information architecture
● Taxonomy
● Design documentation
● Design principles
● Content-first design
● Technical writing
● Accessibility
● Communication (release notes, blogs, more)
● Adoption
● Contribution models
● Workflow
● Governance
More content contributions to design systems

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● Quality
Accuracy, fact checking, acid testing
● Scale
Extend design and content strategy throughout the organization
● Communication
Release notes, news, recognition, adoption
Content in design systems: Why it matters

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● Meaning
Concepts and words that resonate with existing customer mental models
● Purpose
Products and features that are grounded in meaningful goals
● Humanity
A voice to humanize interactions and language about them
Content in design systems: Why it matters now

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Reconsidering next steps
And the steps after that

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The design system is a product
● Listen
● Get inspired by good examples

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Opower empowering their community of creators

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Shopify: content, design, tokens, more

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Atlassian Design System

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Firefox copy and design

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From Help Scout

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From Hudl, examples of content patterns

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My new favorite content pattern example: empty states

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NEW style guide example

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A style guide for Mint, TurboTax, QuickBooks, and more fintech brands

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What do we do next
● Listen
● Get inspired by good examples
● Keep learning

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Thank you
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Appendix
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