On Theme: Design Systems in Depth Layoffs, rebrands, and getting "zero results" from your design system, with Noelle Lansford — #03
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You can't talk about design systems lately without addressing the elephant in the room: layoffs. Noelle walks us through her experience of multiple layoffs in one year, why 2023 was so different than 2020, and how the success criteria of design systems correlated with team layoffs. We discuss the bogeyman of "getting zero results from your design system" and what Noelle was hearing from business leadership about that, and how storytelling might matter more than metrics. Plus, a very spicy take on ~the rebrand~, and why at least one company was hiring for someone to delete their design system 😱
Warning: F-word/language.
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Links & References
- Noelle Lansford on LinkedIn
- Hire Noelle on your system: NoelleLansford.com
- Noelle's semi-viral blog post, The State of Design Systems
- layoffs.fyi
- Sam Anderson's Design Systems are Infrastructure
- eBay Design Playbook
🎨🎟️ Into Design Systems is May 25-28
Get your ticket at intodesignsystems.com/ontheme
Into Design Systems is back with their annual virtual conference, May 28-30, 2025. Get your ticket now for three days of practical, hands on sessions showing the what, why, and how of design systems. This year, the conference is focused on developer handoff, accessibility, multi brand theming, and governance. You'll get hands on knowledge you can put to use at work immediately, files and resources to take away, and hear from very well known industry speakers.