Design systems have become a crucial aspect of modern-day design processes, allowing companies to maintain consistency and efficiency in their design workflows. These standardized collections of reusable components, guidelines, and best practices, including consistent components, help teams create cohesive and user-friendly products across platforms.
Leading brands across various industries have embraced this approach to streamline their design processes and deliver exceptional user experiences. Let’s take a look at 11 well-known design systems from these top companies.
What is a Design System?
A design system is a collection of reusable components, guidelines, and standards that guide the development of digital products within an organization. It serves as a single source of truth for design and development teams, ensuring consistency, efficiency, and a cohesive user experience across all projects.
A design system typically consists of several key components that work together to create a cohesive and efficient design process. Understanding these components is crucial for designers and developers looking to implement a successful design system.
- Reusable Components: Reusable components are the building blocks of a design system. These pre-designed and pre-coded elements, such as buttons, forms, and navigation bars, can be used to create user interfaces quickly and consistently. By using reusable components, teams can ensure a uniform look and feel across different products and platforms.
- Design Guidelines: Design guidelines are a set of rules and principles that govern the design of a product or platform. They provide a framework for designers and developers to follow, ensuring that all design elements align with the overall vision and goals. These guidelines cover various aspects, including color schemes, typography, and layout principles.
- Design Patterns: Design patterns are reusable solutions to common design problems. They offer a consistent and efficient way to address complex design challenges, helping teams create user interfaces that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Examples of design patterns include navigation menus, form validation, and responsive layouts.
- Style Guides: Style guides are a set of guidelines that govern the visual design of a product or platform. They provide detailed instructions on the use of visual elements, such as color palettes, typography, and imagery. Style guides ensure that all design elements are cohesive and align with the brand’s identity.
- Code Snippets: Code snippets are pre-written pieces of code that can be used to implement design components and patterns. They provide a quick and efficient way to integrate design elements into a product or platform, reducing development time and ensuring consistency. Code snippets are especially useful for developers looking to implement complex design features.
Best Design System Examples
Here are popular design systems used by leading companies to improve their product design process and deliver a consistent user experience:
Google Material Design
Google's Material Design System is a pioneering design system that emphasizes familiarity and predictability in digital products by mimicking physical world elements like light and texture. It is a complete set of resources that helps create easy-to-use and responsive user interfaces. It offers guidelines, components, and tools that make designing for different platforms and devices straightforward. Designers and developers can access a variety of resources, like UI components, icons, and typography, all designed to look consistent everywhere. The system’s main features include clear design guidelines and principles that ensure designs are consistent, scalable, and user-friendly.
Apple Human Interface Guidelines
The Apple Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) are designed to help create enjoyable user experiences on any Apple platform. These guidelines offer a broad range of foundational tips, including inclusion guidelines, to assist designers in understanding how different people might react to the content and experiences they create. HIG also provides a comprehensive resource library, which includes files for Sketch, Photoshop, and Adobe XD, along with video sessions and tutorials to support designers in their work.
Atlassian Design
The Atlassian Design System (ADS) is created by Atlassian to ensure a consistent and unified experience across all its products and services. It provides various resources for designers and developers, such as user interface components, design guidelines, and accessibility standards. The ADS highlights a design language focused on simplicity, clarity, and usability, while also offering customization and flexibility.
Microsoft Fluent Design
Microsoft’s Fluent Design System, also known as the Microsoft Fluent Design System, is a set of guidelines developed to help create user experiences that are immersive, engaging, and easy to use. It offers tools and components for designers and developers to work with. The system is built around five main principles: light, depth, motion, material, and scale, which help guide the design process. Because of its detailed resources and straightforward instructions, the Fluent Design System is a popular choice for many people working in design and development.
Shopify Polaris
Shopify's Polaris design system is built to help create a smooth and consistent experience for merchants. It includes a library of components and offers straightforward guidance on key design elements. Polaris focuses on simplicity, clarity, and ease of use, ensuring that Shopify merchants have a unified design language. The system is also customizable and flexible, allowing for adjustments to fit different needs while maintaining a coherent style across the platform.
IBM Carbon
The IBM Carbon Design System, built upon the IBM Design Language, is a tool created by IBM to ensure a consistent and scalable user experience across its products and services. Carbon provides various helpful resources for both designers and developers, such as user interface components, design guidelines, accessibility standards, and development tools. Its main features include a design language that focuses on simplicity, clarity, and usability, while also allowing for customization and flexibility.
Uber Base
Uber's design system, Base, offers a user-friendly, open-source toolkit that helps teams quickly and easily build web applications. It provides a set of components and tools that align with the Base Design System. This system is built to be reliable, accessible, and highly customizable. Some of its main features include a design language focused on simplicity, clarity, and usability, along with options for customization and flexibility.
Salesforce Lightning
The Salesforce Lightning Design System provides a way to unify its cloud-based CRM apps with a consistent appearance. It offers essential design elements, ready-to-use components, and guidelines to help create user-friendly interfaces. The system focuses on simplicity, clarity, and ease of use while allowing for customization and flexibility. With these features, developers can create apps that not only look similar but are also intuitive and adaptable to various needs.
Mailchimp Pattern Library
The Mailchimp Pattern Library provides a comprehensive design system featuring a wide range of elements. It includes a pattern library with color schemes, typography, data visualization, and a grid system. Additionally, it offers buttons, lists, and navigation tools. The library is built around a design language that focuses on simplicity, clarity, and ease of use.
Airbnb Design
Airbnb has a design system that isn't fully open, but their design team shares insightful articles about their design approach. This system is mainly focused on digital products and includes a variety of application interface elements. It highlights a design language centered around simplicity, clarity, and ease of use, while also offering options for customization and flexibility.
Duolingo Brand Guidelines
Duolingo’s Brand Guidelines are a fantastic example of a design system that focuses on branding and content creation. These guidelines offer detailed instructions on brand identity, illustrations, color usage, and other marketing resources. A key highlight is their design language, which prioritizes simplicity, clarity, and usability.
Other Notable Design Systems
In addition to the design systems mentioned earlier, several other notable design systems have made significant contributions to the design community. These systems showcase the diversity and innovation in the field, providing valuable resources for designers and developers.
- Dropbox’s Design System: Dropbox’s design system is a modular and scalable framework that provides a consistent design language across their platform. It includes a variety of components, patterns, and guidelines that help create user interfaces that are both functional and visually appealing. The system’s flexibility allows for customization while maintaining a unified look and feel.
- GitHub’s Design System: GitHub’s design system offers a comprehensive guide to designing and building user interfaces for their platform. It features a wide range of components, patterns, and guidelines that promote consistency and usability. The system is designed to be intuitive, helping designers and developers create seamless and efficient user experiences.
- LinkedIn’s Design System: LinkedIn’s design system is a modular and scalable framework that ensures a consistent design language across their platform. It includes a variety of components, patterns, and guidelines that help create user interfaces that are both functional and visually appealing. The system’s emphasis on scalability makes it a valuable resource for large-scale projects.
Benefits of Creating a Design System
A well-designed system offers numerous advantages for organizations. Here are some of the key benefits:
Improved User Experience (UX)
A design system helps keep a consistent look and feel across all products, making them familiar and easy for users to understand. It increases efficiency by allowing users to navigate and interact with products quickly, which reduces frustration and boosts satisfaction. Additionally, by focusing on accessibility, design systems ensure that products can be used by people with disabilities.
Increased Efficiency and Productivity
Using reusable components and design tools can speed up the development process, helping products reach the market faster. By following a consistent system, design and development errors are reduced, minimizing the need for rework. Additionally, as products expand, this system offers a strong foundation for scaling while maintaining consistency.
Enhanced Collaboration and Communication
A design system helps everyone involved in a project, like designers, developers, and other team members, by creating a shared language and vocabulary. This means everyone can communicate more clearly and work together more efficiently. It also makes the transition from design to development easier because there are clear guidelines and specifications. Having a centralized source for all design decisions encourages better teamwork and helps everyone share knowledge more effectively.
Stronger Brand Identity
A design system creates a unified brand experience that consistently reflects a brand's identity and values across different platforms. This helps users easily recognize and associate products with the brand, strengthening brand recognition. When everything looks and feels consistent, it builds trust and credibility with customers, making them more confident in choosing the brand.
Cost Savings
Using reusable parts and efficient processes can help save a lot of money in development. When a system is well-organized, it's easier to keep up-to-date and maintain, which cuts down on costs over time. Also, quicker development and fewer mistakes boost productivity and save money in the long run.
Implementing a Design System
Implementing a design system requires careful planning and execution. Here are some essential steps to follow when implementing a design system:
- Define the Design Language: The first step in implementing a design system is to define the design language. This includes establishing the visual design elements, such as color, typography, and imagery, as well as the design principles and guidelines that will guide the design process.
- Create Reusable Components: Next, create reusable components that can be used to build user interfaces. This involves designing and coding elements such as buttons, forms, and navigation bars. Reusable components ensure consistency and efficiency in the design and development process.
- Develop Design Guidelines: Develop comprehensive design guidelines that provide a framework for designers and developers to follow. These guidelines should include design principles, patterns, and best practices that ensure a cohesive and user-friendly experience.
- Establish a Design Process: Establish a design process that incorporates the design system. This includes defining the roles and responsibilities of designers and developers, as well as the workflow and timelines for designing and building user interfaces. A well-defined process ensures that the design system is integrated seamlessly into the overall project workflow.
- Train and Educate: Train and educate designers and developers on the design system and how to use it effectively. Provide documentation, training sessions, and ongoing support to ensure that everyone is familiar with the system and can use it to its full potential.
- Monitor and Maintain: Regularly monitor and maintain the design system to ensure that it remains up-to-date and relevant. This includes reviewing and updating the design language, components, and guidelines to align with the latest design trends and best practices. Continuous maintenance ensures that the design system evolves with the needs of the organization and its users.
By following these steps, organizations can successfully implement a design system that enhances collaboration, improves efficiency, and delivers a consistent and exceptional user experience.
Conclusion
Design systems are important tools for both big and small organizations. They help create consistent and outstanding user experiences across different products and points of interaction. By recognizing the benefits of design systems, companies can boost teamwork, make decision-making easier, and reduce communication problems between designers and developers.
