What is a Design System? A Guide With Best Practices

Nowadays, design systems have become indispensable for maintaining consistency, efficiency, and scalability across product teams. If you’re wondering ‘What is a design system?’ — this guide will dive into everything you need to know. We’ll cover the purpose of a design system, its essential components, examples, and how you can build one to streamline your design processes.

What is a Design System?

A design system is a collection of reusable components, guidelines, and tools that help designers and developers maintain consistency and coherence across digital products. It encompasses not only design assets like colors, typography, and components but also documentation and principles that define how these elements should be used. A design system ensures that all team members, from product managers to UI/UX designers in Singapore and beyond, are aligned, saving time and avoiding inconsistencies.

Design systems go beyond just visual elements; they unify the UI and UX of an organization’s digital interfaces, facilitating a seamless and efficient development process across teams.

Why Should You Use a Design System?

Design systems offer multiple benefits that make them essential tools for growing organizations. Here are a few of the key benefits of a design system:

• Consistency Across Platforms: By centralizing design components, every page and product looks cohesive, reinforcing brand identity.
• Enhanced Collaboration: Developers and designers have a shared language, reducing miscommunication and enhancing productivity.
• Improved Efficiency and Scalability: As digital products grow, scaling becomes smoother with a design system, enabling fast product updates.
• Better UX and UI: With clear guidelines, the user experience is smoother and more cohesive, providing end-users with a seamless experience.

Organizations, whether working with in-house teams or UI UX designers in Singapore, use design systems to speed up the development cycle and reduce redundant work.

Essential Elements of a Design System

A comprehensive design system includes various essential elements that help guide the design and development process:

1. Typography: Consistent font choices, including sizes, weights, and line heights, ensure readability and brand coherence.
2. Color Palette: Defines the brand’s color scheme, including primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, as well as shades for backgrounds and text.
3. UI Components: Reusable components like buttons, input fields, modals, and icons that make building interfaces faster and more reliable.
4. Spacing and Layout Guidelines: Establishes rules for padding, margins, and alignment, creating a balanced and organized appearance.
5. Design Tokens: Small, reusable design decisions such as colors, fonts, and spacings stored in a way that can be directly implemented in code.
6. Documentation and Guidelines: A critical part of any design system, documentation clarifies how and when to use each component, helping new team members quickly understand the design principles.

The components of a design system offer a structured approach that guarantees quality and consistency across all digital products.

7 Best Examples of Design Systems Today

Let’s look at some successful design systems used by leading brands. Each of the following design systems not only meets user needs but also reinforces the brand’s identity, making them powerful tools for design and development teams around the world.

1. Material Design by Google

• Overview: Google’s Material Design is one of the most widely recognized design systems, setting a standard for intuitive and user-centered design. Launched in 2014, it has evolved to provide a visually cohesive experience across Google’s products and beyond, as it’s now adopted by third-party developers as well.
• Features: Known for its clean, bold use of color, iconography, and layering, Material Design offers detailed guidelines on everything from motion and animation to color theory and layout. Components like buttons, cards, and navigation patterns are included to ensure consistency. According to a study by Figma, leveraging a design system can save designers significant time, translating into cost savings for organizations.
• Notable Aspects: Material Design’s focus on subtle motion and elevation, along with its comprehensive documentation, makes it ideal for creating smooth, intuitive user experiences that are easy to replicate across platforms. A well-maintained design system ensures that every team member uses the same elements and components, which streamlines usability testing and creates a better overall user experience.

2. Atlassian Design System

• Overview: Created by Atlassian, this design system supports collaboration within their suite of tools, like Jira, Confluence, and Trello. It’s designed to facilitate seamless user experiences for teams managing complex workflows.
• Features: The Atlassian Design System includes elements focused on clarity, accessibility, and ease of use, with an emphasis on typographic hierarchy and scalable components. It provides tools for developers and designers to create accessible, responsive, and flexible interfaces.
• Notable Aspects: Atlassian’s emphasis on accessibility is notable, with strong guidance on how to make each component usable by people with disabilities, aligning with WCAG standards. This makes it a valuable resource for teams prioritizing inclusivity in design. And in fact, 3/4ths of Figma’s enterprise customers are currently leveraging design systems across their entire org.

3. Carbon by IBM

• Overview: IBM’s Carbon Design System was created to handle the demands of an extensive suite of business applications. It’s designed for flexibility and can be adapted to different IBM platforms and products.
• Features: Carbon includes a wide range of components, design tokens, and guidelines that accommodate different user interfaces, from dashboards to data visualizations. It also has a powerful set of resources for designers and developers, including code snippets and live previews.
• Notable Aspects: Carbon’s adaptability and component-driven approach make it well-suited for large enterprises needing a consistent experience across diverse applications. The system also prioritizes accessibility, making it suitable for a wide user base.

4. Polaris by Shopify

• Overview: Shopify’s Polaris design system is optimized for creating cohesive eCommerce experiences. It’s tailored specifically for Shopify’s platform and is designed to help merchants build efficient and visually appealing online stores.
• Features: Polaris includes guidelines for navigation, typography, and interaction patterns that enhance the user shopping experience. It offers tools for building product listings, checkout processes, and user account interfaces.
• Notable Aspects: Polaris stands out for its focus on user-centered design tailored to eCommerce. It aims to make the shopping experience seamless and enjoyable, ensuring that each component—from buttons to error messages—contributes to customer satisfaction and trust.

5. Salesforce Lightning Design System

• Overview: The Salesforce Lightning Design System (SLDS) is tailored for Salesforce’s platform, offering a structured set of components and patterns for building scalable, responsive applications.
• Features: SLDS includes reusable UI components, such as forms, cards, and data tables, designed specifically for business environments. It also provides patterns and color guidelines aligned with the Salesforce brand.
• Notable Aspects: Known for its focus on productivity and efficiency, SLDS makes it easier for developers to create cohesive interfaces within the Salesforce ecosystem, helping users navigate complex data sets and workflows with ease.

6. Apple Human Interface Guidelines

• Overview: Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) set a high standard for simplicity and elegance. Designed to ensure consistency across Apple’s ecosystem, HIG is the foundation for any app that runs on iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
• Features: The guidelines cover everything from icon design and color choices to layout structures and accessibility standards, ensuring that applications align with Apple’s aesthetic and usability standards.
• Notable Aspects: Apple’s focus on clarity, minimalism, and intuitive interactions makes the HIG a timeless resource for creating refined and user-friendly applications that seamlessly integrate into Apple’s product lineup.

7. Microsoft Fluent Design System

• Overview: Microsoft’s Fluent Design System is geared towards creating a unified experience across Windows and other Microsoft platforms. Fluent emphasizes simplicity and efficiency, with a commitment to accessibility and universal design principles.
• Features: Fluent includes components like typography, colors, and shapes that can be adapted across different devices and screen sizes, from desktops to mobile devices. It also has clear guidelines for touch, pen, mouse, and keyboard interactions.
• Notable Aspects: Fluent’s modularity and emphasis on accessibility make it well-suited for global audiences. With a focus on responsiveness and accessibility, Fluent helps create applications that feel natural and usable across different devices and input methods.

Each of these systems exemplifies the purpose of a design system: establishing a reliable and scalable way to create interfaces that reflect a brand’s personality while meeting users’ expectations.

How to Create a Design System

Building a design system requires strategic planning and an understanding of the organization’s unique needs. Here are the steps to get started:

1. Audit Existing Design Assets: Review all current design assets and code libraries to identify inconsistencies and repetitive elements.
2. Define Core Components: Select components that will be essential across all platforms, such as buttons, icons, typography, and color schemes.
3. Create Design Tokens: Organize the design tokens to store color values, font sizes, spacing units, and other variables for easy application in code.
4. Develop Documentation: Comprehensive documentation is crucial. This includes the usage, styling guidelines, and accessibility requirements for each component.
5. Collaborate Across Teams: Involve designers, developers, and product managers in the process to create a well-rounded system.
6. Test and Iterate: Conduct usability testing to ensure the system is intuitive and effective, then update it based on feedback.
7. Launch and Maintain the System: Roll out the design system gradually, training the team on its components and ensuring it is used consistently.

Creating a design system can transform how teams work together and allow for rapid development of new products while maintaining a cohesive look and feel.

What is the Difference Between a UI Kit and a Design System?

When comparing a UI kit and a design system, it’s essential to understand that they serve different purposes:

• UI Kit: Primarily a collection of user interface elements like buttons, input fields, and icons. It’s useful for rapid prototyping but lacks guidelines on when and how to use each component.
• Design System: A broader, more comprehensive set of standards that includes UI elements, design principles, documentation, and coding guidelines. A design system serves as a foundation, while a UI kit is often a subset or one component of it.

While both are valuable tools, design systems provide a higher level of structure and clarity, ensuring that every product developed by the team aligns with the brand’s identity and user expectations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is a design system in UX/UI?
A: A design system in UX/UI is a comprehensive collection of guidelines, components, and standards that unify the design and development process. It ensures consistency, efficiency, and a cohesive user experience.

Q: How does a design system improve collaboration?
A: A design system serves as a single source of truth, making it easy for designers and developers to work together with clear guidelines and reusable components.

Q: What’s the difference between a design system and a style guide?
A: A style guide provides rules for visual elements like typography and color but lacks the component library and usage guidelines found in a design system. Essentially, design system vs style guide compares a holistic tool (design system) to a more basic set of visual guidelines (style guide).

Q: Is it challenging to maintain a design system?
A: It can require effort, particularly in large organizations, but the benefits, such as reduced redundancy and improved scalability, make it worthwhile.

Q: Can design systems be customized for smaller teams?
A: Yes, smaller teams can create streamlined versions of design systems that include essential components and guidelines.

Conclusion

So now you know what a design system is. It is very important for companies aiming to streamline their design and development processes, enabling consistent and efficient product growth. By investing in a well-structured design system, teams can ensure consistency across platforms, improve collaboration, and scale products faster.

If you’re looking to develop a custom design system or enhance your team’s productivity, Vinova’s experienced UI/UX designers in Singapore can help you build a solution tailored to your needs. Contact us today to see how we can help elevate your brand’s digital experience.