Lately I’ve been thinking about design systems.
- Creating
- Communicating
- Implementing
- Applying
- Extending
1. Creating
How can a design system be created to solve a specific problem? I find one-size-fits-all systems like Google’s Material Design too restrictive and too ambiguous at the same time. How can we develop a solution to the problem at hand?
- Define the problem
- Use our brains to solve it
- Research
- Test
- Think real hard
2. Communicating
Assuming the person designing the system is not the person to implement it, how can the system be communicated completely?
3. Implementing
How can the system be implemented? What assumptions are made, and how are they documented? Who is the user of the design system?
4. Applying
How can the system be applied? How can it provide evidence of itself, its intended usage, and ultimately solve the problem it was created to solve? How can it make people’s lives easier?
5. Extending
How can the design system be modified and used in ways that were not originally intended? How can the intentions behind the system be encoded for future designers?