What benefits of Design Systems for Designers, Developers, Product Owners, and Teams?

WHAT IS A DESIGN SYSTEM?

A design system in its most basic form is a collection of design and code decisions that everybody uses. Like a style guide but with components (like buttons or cards) as design and code resources. It’s a framework of building blocks, based around centralized design decisions.

A design system can have a positive impact on business goals, workflow, team and user happiness, and on shaping the brand experience for the customers and the employees. Knowing the benefits can be useful when you try to convince your management that a design system is not a waste of money. Or when you want to convince your designers that it will not replace the creative part of their job.

BENEFITS OF DESIGNING SYSTEMS FOR EVERY MEMBER OF THE TEAM

1. Scalability

Most companies run into issues when scaling up their products. The main issue is a non-linear increase in effort. This often happens both during development and maintenance. The issue is that adding more features and products increases complexity exponentially. This means you need additional people to align the user experience across all products. Luckily, a design system can help with that.

2. Maintainability and Continuous Improvement

The centralized nature of design systems makes maintaining products much easier. Fixes and improvements in the design system instantly propagate to all products.

3. Productivity, Speed, and Cost Improvements

A design system will always improve speed, quality, and consistency in the long run. Many teams I talked to see this as the main reason for implementing a design system. Probably because it has a huge impact on your business metrics. Consistency and quality have a strong impact on your product's image and the user experience. A great first impression can make customers choose your product over a competitor. Increased development speed means fewer people can do more, or you can ship faster. This has a dramatic effect on your company’s bottom line. Especially at scale.

4. Code and Design Quality

Designers and developers who work together full-time on a design system that everyone uses will make sure it’s of the highest quality. The secret to getting a high-quality design system is to set it up like any other product. You need a full-time, dedicated team including designers, developers, and a product owner.

5. Consistency

Consistency improves visual quality and makes using your products easier. This is because the same patterns are used throughout all your products. A design system defines and standardizes patterns, enabling all product teams to stay consistent.

6. Knowledge Sharing

A design system, as the name implies, is the system your company uses to design and build products. It includes tools, methods, and mindsets to solve the right problems in the right way.

Documentation is one of the most important parts of a design system. Good documentation makes sure your policies are understood and implemented by your colleagues. It allows new people to learn the system and transports the company’s values and culture across teams.

7. Avoiding the Bus Factor

The bus factor is a somewhat macabre name for the risk of losing knowledge due to a missing team member. Your colleague mustn’t be run over by a bus for the issue to arise. Maybe she is sick, on vacation, or joining a different company. Are you prepared for this situation?

If you have a well-set-up design system, you should be at least somewhat prepared. Mainly because it forces you to standardize.

8. Closing the Brand-Product Gap

Product teams creating apps using only traditional style guides often end up with inconsistent results. The brand personality gets lost in translation. Having one team translate a brand into interface elements can solve this issue.

9. Shared Design Philosophy and Principles

A design system is much more than colors and components. It lets you share and explain the philosophy and principles behind your design. You could say it’s a hands-on guide for how to design at your organization.

10. Share Ownership

A common issue with brand adoption within teams is the missing feeling of ownership. A design system can make it possible to give everyone the feeling of ownership.

11. Promote Equality

Doing what is right becomes more and more important for employees but also for companies. Equality and inclusion are one of those aspects where design systems can have a small impact.

One important aspect is of course accessibility. A standardized set of colors and components allows you to assure that designs meet accessibility standards.

Design systems offer several benefits for designers, developers, product owners, and teams. Here are some of the key advantages for each group:

Designers:

• Consistency: Design systems establish consistent visual and interaction patterns, ensuring a cohesive user experience across products and platforms.
• Efficiency: Designers can reuse pre-defined components and styles, saving time and effort. This allows them to focus on solving higher-level design problems and iterating quickly.
• Collaboration: Design systems foster collaboration by providing a shared language and reference point for designers, encouraging better communication and alignment within design teams.

Developers:

• Faster Development: Design systems provide a library of reusable components, code snippets, and guidelines, allowing developers to accelerate the development process. This reduces duplication of effort and speeds up time-to-market.
• Maintainability: By using a design system, developers can ensure consistency in code implementation. Updates and changes to the system propagate throughout the product, making maintenance and updates more efficient.
• Bridging the Gap: Design systems bridge the gap between design and development, as they provide clear specifications and guidelines for developers to implement designs accurately.

Product Owners:

• Brand Consistency: Design systems help maintain a consistent brand identity across products and platforms. This ensures that the product aligns with the overall brand strategy and reinforces brand recognition.
• Scalability: With a design system in place, product owners can easily scale their product offerings. New features, platforms, or products can be developed faster by leveraging existing design components and guidelines.
• Faster Iteration: By using a design system, product owners can iterate and test new ideas more quickly. The predefined components and guidelines reduce the time required to design and develop new features or improvements.

Teams:

• Collaboration and Alignment: Design systems foster collaboration and alignment across multidisciplinary teams. They establish a shared language and understanding, making it easier for designers, developers, and product owners to work together efficiently.
• Efficiency and Productivity: By promoting reusable components and streamlined processes, design systems enhance efficiency and productivity within teams. They reduce time spent on redundant tasks and enable teams to focus on higher-level problem-solving.
• Reduced Dependencies: Design systems decrease dependencies between team members by providing a centralized resource for design and development assets. This reduces bottlenecks and allows team members to work more autonomously.

Overall, design systems benefit designers, developers, product owners, and teams by improving consistency, efficiency, collaboration, and scalability. They enable teams to work together seamlessly, accelerate product development, and maintain a cohesive user experience.