4. Dan Mall: How do design systems work in enterprise organizations?
Jan 2, 2020
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Dan Mall, a Creative Director and CEO, discusses the impact of design systems on enterprise organizations with a focus on improving team efficiency and collaboration. They explore the evolution of designers' roles, the challenges of remote teamwork, and the importance of creativity in agile development cycles. The podcast highlights strategies for unifying design systems across digital platforms and emphasizes the significance of collaboration between designers and developers.
Tailoring design systems to company products enhances product development and user experience.
Effective communication and collaboration across teams are crucial for managing diverse digital products within a design system.
Deep dives
Design Systems: Shaping Digital Experiences
Developing successful design systems involves considering the broader context of the company's products and core competencies. Understanding the products a company wants to build provides a perspective for tailoring the design system to meet specific needs, whether for airlines, hospitality, or restaurants. Aligning the design system with the company's core competencies enhances product development and user experience.
The Challenge of Unifying Diverse Products
In managing various screen sizes, devices, and digital products within a design system, the key lies in effective communication and collaboration across teams. Encouraging closer collaboration between designers, developers, product managers, and researchers facilitates shared understanding and smoother implementation. Strategies like physical proximity, video collaboration, and utilizing design tools aid in aligning diverse products under one cohesive system.
Evolving Design and Development Processes
Encouraging a shift from siloed work processes to more integrated collaboration within teams is essential for effective design systems. Moving beyond traditional roles and fostering a multidisciplinary approach enables designers to engage with software creation and developers to embrace design elements. Agile principles emphasize teamwork and a focus on software development collaboration, emphasizing the importance of everyone contributing to the software-making process.
Empowering Creativity and Efficiency
Addressing challenges of balancing creativity and efficiency within design systems involves reevaluating traditional norms. Emphasizing innovation in targeted areas while streamlining processes through collaborative decision-making enhances product development. Encouraging designers to prioritize impactful design elements over excessive iterations fosters efficient utilization of time and resources, driving a shift towards creative problem-solving and conducive work environments.
Dan Mall calls in from the East coast to chat with Chris about design systems and their role in enterprise organizations. How does this affect the teams that work on them? The guys also discuss what digital products actually are in relation to design systems. How to create a "one ring to rule them all" type of system and does that even exits? They continue to dive into agile, designers' roles, how teams are finding they're wasting time, and much more.
Dan Mall Creative Director, Advisor, CEO and Founder of SuperFriendly Dan Mall is a creative director and advisor from Philly. He’s the founder and CEO of SuperFriendly, a design collaborative that helps in-house teams make better digital products with design systems. Dan is an enthralled husband & dad, author of Pricing Design, and co-founder of SuperBooked, a service that helps you find work with a little help from your friends. He writes about design and other issues on Twitter and on his industry-recognized site, danmall.me.