Here's What People Get Wrong About Design Systems | Dan Mall

Dan Mall is the Founder of Design Systems University. He's an expert in helping companies scale design systems. In this episode Dan and Sera talk design systems, why they matter, and how to implement them.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Dan intro

(00:01:58) How Dan got into design

(00:04:17) Starting his agency

(00:07:10) Find equilibrium as a business owner

(00:08:40) Design Systems

(00:10:16) The spectrum of design systems

(00:13:50) What organizations Dan works with

(00:15:15) Get buy-in to scale something that's working

(00:16:29) Dan's approach  — "Piloting"

(00:18:57) Designers need to learn the language of business

(00:22:36) We are not a great representation of users

(00:23:47) Design Politics

(00:27:14) Have your own opinions

(00:32:36) Templates, patterns, and packages

(00:36:06) How to get started

(00:43:37) No parity between design and code

(00:47:15) Get people to spend less time in Figma

(00:49:15) Build a tool that people use

(00:51:50) Publicize your Design System

(00:53:20) Design Systems democratize design

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Where to find Dan Mall:

Design Systems: https://designsystem.university/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmall/

Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/danmall

Website: https://danmall.com/

___________________________________________________________

I'm Sera Tajima, Founder, Climate Tech Advisor & Investor. 🤙

I talk about:

→ Product Growth Strategy (Growth, Design, AI)

→ Climate Tech

→ Venture Capital

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