Brad Frost, a leading voice in design systems, discusses the importance of adaptable design systems that resonate with diverse brand identities. Topics include creating global frameworks, 'recipes' for specific use cases, and industry-wide component standardization. The conversation highlights the layers of successful design systems, emphasizing efficiency in building products and prioritizing functionality over aesthetics.
Design systems should prioritize functionality over visual design to avoid excessive customization.
Global design systems with universal components enhance efficiency and reduce redundancy across organizations.
Deep dives
Decoupling Visual Design and Functional Design
Design systems are learning from the decoupling of content management systems from interface design, leading to the separation of visual design and functional components. Just like the rise of decoupled CMS, the trend in design systems now suggests that visual design should not dictate interface design. By focusing on functionality first and then layering on the visual aesthetic, teams can avoid the need to override pre-designed aesthetics and customize solutions excessively.
Standardizing Shared Components
The establishment of a global design system that houses universally essential components can promote efficiency and reuse across organizations. By creating a common base of sturdy, accessible, and resilient components, teams can streamline development, reduce redundancy, and focus on more impactful custom solutions. This approach aims to alleviate the burden of rebuilding standard components repeatedly across different projects, shifting the focus to innovations that truly make a difference.
Layered Approach to Design and Development
Introducing a layered structure in design and development allows for different teams to operate at varying paces while maintaining alignment. From core design systems with vanilla components to theme-specific layers and custom compositions, the layered approach offers flexibility and autonomy for product teams. By defining distinct zones for functional, brand, and aesthetic concerns, organizations can achieve a balance between consistency and creative expression.
Efficiency Through Component Composability
The concept of component composability enables the creation of scalable systems where basic elements can be combined to form higher-level compositions. By breaking down complexity into reusable atomic components and adaptable compositions, teams can enhance reusability and maintain consistency. This strategy empowers developers to construct a range of interfaces efficiently while ensuring alignment with overarching design and brand guidelines.
We sit down with Brad Frost, a leading voice in design systems. Together, we explore the critical intersection between adaptable design systems and brand identities, unveiling the secrets to creating components that not only function seamlessly across platforms but also resonate with diverse brand aesthetics. Listen in as we discuss the layers of a successful design system, from global frameworks to the 'recipes' that define specific use cases, and highlight the importance of industry-wide component standardization. This thought-provoking conversation with Brad Frost promises to elevate your approach to design systems.
Guest Brad Frost is a design system consultant, front-end developer, speaker, writer, musician, and artist located in beautiful Pittsburgh, PA. As a principal and design system consultant at Big Medium, he helps teams establish and evolve design systems, establish more collaborative workflows, and create better software together.. He is the author of the book Atomic Design, which introduces a methodology to create and maintain effective design systems. He co-hosted the Style Guides Podcast and has helped create several tools and resources for web designers, including Pattern Lab, Styleguides.io, Style Guide Guide, This Is Responsive, Death to Bullshit, and more.
Host Chris Strahl is co-founder and CEO of Knapsack, host of @TheDSPod, DnD DM, and occasional river guide. You can find Chris on Twitter as @chrisstrahl and on LinkedIn. Sponsor Sponsored by Knapsack, the design system platform that brings teams together. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.
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