✎ The Design System Ecosystem

This is a massive post that digs into the gory details of a mature, sophisticated, and successful UI ecosystem for complex organizations.bradfrost.com/blog/post/the-… Most conversation around design systems is still pretty crude: There's a design system. Products use that design system. While that's true, it doesn't take into account the complexities and nuances of an organization's digital landscape.

✎ Layout and Grid in Design Systems: bradfrost.com/blog/post/layo…

In this post, I break down how we approach layout and grid systems in the context of design systems. Most design system components are "stuff": form fields, accordions, buttons, badges. Stuff. Layout and grid components serve as boxes to put that other stuff.

✎ The Many Faces of Themeable Design Systems bradfrost.com/blog/post/the-…

In this post, I explore how a three-tier design token architecture can support:
- multiple brands
- sub brands
- white labeling
- campaigns
- redesigns
- marketing vs product
- dark mode We've worked with many organizations to create design systems that can support their portfolio of brands. As I've written about elsewhere, design systems + CSS Zen Garden = awesome.

✎ I absolutely loved the 'Get Back' documentary, and I think there are a ton of lessons for people who do creative work. I break them down in this post: bradfrost.com/blog/post/crea… The first lesson from 'Get Back': JUST DO IT. What's the best way to make songs? Pick up your instruments and start playing.

What's the best way to make websites? As @ShopTalkShow's tagline rightfully proclaims: JUST BUILD WEBSITES.

This is exactly what atomic design addresses. Atomic design provides a construct to simultaneously create products and the components that make up those products.

https://twitter.com/brian_lovin/status/1366565814711640066

Atomic design isn't just a cute, superficial naming convention. It's a methodology for connecting a design system's components to the products that use those components.

Because a design system's success _must_ be hitched to actual product success.

✎ Design Systems, Agile, and Industrialization: bradfrost.com/blog/post/desi…

In which I discuss the dehumanizing threat of design systems, and vent about my deep-seated hatred of Agile. This post is a rebound of @davatron5000's fantastic article, The Web is Industrialized and I helped industrialize it: daverupert.com/2020/01/the-we…