Thread by @danmall

What is a #designsystem? You’ve probably heard lots about them. You may have even worked on one, but you still struggle to define it.

Here’s how I talk about #designsystems to anyone who will listen: 🧵

There are many great design system books out there. Let’s see what their authors have to say about design systems:

“A design system is a set of connected patterns and shared practices, coherently organized to serve the purposes of a digital product.” — @craftui, Design Systems

“Design systems bring order and consistency to digital products. They help to protect the brand, elevate the user experience, and increase the speed and efficiency of how we design and build products.” — @andrewcouldwell, Laying the Foundations

“A design system is a collection of reusable components, guided by clear standards, that can be assembled together to build any number of applications.” — @MarcoSuarez, Design System Handbook

Here’s what other industry experts had to say about design systems:

“The components are the trees. The design system is the forest.” —@adactio, adactio.com/journal/13844

“A design system isthe official story of how your organization designs and builds digital interfaces.” — @brad_frost, bradfrost.com/blog/post/desi…

“Design systems are any set of decisions governed across an organization.” — @hayhughes,

“A design system is a library of visual style, components, and other concerns documented and released by an individual, team, or community as code and design tools so that adopting products can be more efficient and cohesive.” — @nathanacurtis, medium.com/eightshapes-ll…

Why so many definitions? Perhaps it’s because the term “design” is broad and the term “system” is broad, so the combination is fitting broad too.

In my work, I’ve found 6 different kinds of things that can be described as design systems:

1. Brand identities/visual languages
2. Tools
3. Products
4. Process
5. Design system as a service
6. Design system as a practice

For more info on each, check out my new video on the topic (and subscribe to the channel for more soon-to-come videos like this):

And if you’d prefer it in blog post form, I’m happy to oblige: danmall.com/posts/what-is-…

If you think this thread can help you and your followers understand design systems better:

1. Follow me @danmall for more of these
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