Design Systems Podcast

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Want to be part of the industry's first-ever report on design system adoption? Click here to take part in our 4-minute survey.In this deep-dive episode, Danny, Robin, and Chris discuss the differences and similarities of design systems at different stages of maturity, including ROI measurement; who should manage your design system, and how to create a balance of power between designers and developers working on your design system.Robin Cannon is the Global Director of Design Systems, IBM iX at IBM. Having spent several years leading the development of IBM’s design system, Carbon, he’s now working on IBM iX’s design systems offering—and design operations in general—with clients and partners. You can find Robin on Twitter as @shinytoyrobots, and LinkedIn.Danny Phillips is a Staff Engineer at Procore, former Group Engineering Manager, Design Systems. Over the past several years, he helped build their design system from the ground up and is now focused on building new ventures at Procore. You can find Danny on Twitter as @_dannyjphillips or LinkedIn.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: Knapsack is a design system platform rooted in code for shipping consistent apps in half the time. Design once, build once, use everywhere. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.View the transcript for this episode here.

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Leonardo De La Rocha and Chris discuss the “federated” design system model, how to connect design systems to business needs, designing friction-free cross-platform experiences, and C-suite awareness of design needs.Guest: Lonardo De La Rocha is an engineer turned pixel-pusher turned creative executive and adviser. He currently serves as Director of Intuit Design System in Mountain View, CA, and was previously creative director leading Facebook's art department and business marketing surfaces  and Yahoo's Head of Design for ads and publishing products. You can find Leonardo at his portfolio site, on Twitter as @delarocha, as a mentor on ADPList, and on LinkedIn. 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: Knapsack: design once, build once, use everywhere. Knapsack is a design system platform rooted in code for shipping consistent apps in half the time. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Audrey and Chris discuss the vision guiding Xero’s design system team, how co-ownership helps design system teams thrive, the processes she uses for managing a global team, and how the Xero design system team approaches modernization.Guest: Audrey has been designing digital experiences at high-growth technology companies for over 12 years. She’s passionate about growing teams to be their best through shipping product with impact. You can find Audrey at her personal site and on LinkedIn.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: Sponsor: Knapsack is a design system platform rooted in code for shipping consistent apps in half the time. Design once, build once, use everywhere. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.View the transcript for this episode.

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Jess Clark and Chris discuss the meaning of design systems and the potential of design systems as a service. What can design systems offer us beyond infrastructure? How can approaching design systems as products, rather than repositories, increase their capabilities?Guest: Jess Clark is Director of Product Design, Design Systems at LinkedIn, where she is responsible for enabling quality design at scale through tools, collaboration, and LinkedIn’s Design System. Her team strives to empower and educate their peers to deliver amazing, inclusive, consistent experiences to members and customers. You can find Jess on LinkedIn.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: Knapsack: design once, build once, use everywhere. Knapsack is a design system platform rooted in code for shipping consistent apps in half the time. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.View the transcript for this episode.

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.This episode is a little bit longer—okay, a lot longer—than our usual. Chrome developer advocate Adam Argyle and Chris Strahl talk about tokens in all their glory without worrying about time limits. If you’ve ever wondered about the limits of tokens and what’s left to explore in the token stratosphere, check out this podcast.Guest: Adam Argyle is a Chrome CSS Developer Advocate at Google, creator of VisBug, co-host of The CSS Podcast, developer, former designer, and RPG enthusiast. You can find Adam at nerdy.dev, on Twitter as @argyleink, and on LinkedIn.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: Knapsack: design once, build once, use everywhere. Knapsack is a design system platform rooted in code for shipping consistent apps in half the time. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.View the transcript for this episode.

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Maya Hampton and Chris discuss why design systems need to be flexible, the role of a product manager in a design system, and viewing design systems as products.Guest: Maya Hampton is the product manager of REI’s design system, where she leads a cross-functional team, including design and engineering, to help scale REI's branding and consistent UX across the co-op’s digital portfolio. You can find Maya on Medium, Twitter as @himaya, and LinkedIn.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: Knapsack: design once, build once, use everywhere. Knapsack is a design system platform rooted in code for shipping consistent apps in half the time. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.View the transcript for this episode.

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Jehad Affoneh, Scott Mathis, and Chris discuss the advantages of open-source, the role of content in design systems, the pattern-based approach to building apps, and similarities between music and tokens.Guests:Jehad Affoneh is Chief Design Officer at Splunk (formerly Head of Design at VMware). He’s an experienced design and business leader who writes frequently about user experience, leadership, management, and business. You can find Jehad at mynameisjehad.com, on Twitter as @jaffoneh, and on LinkedIn.Scott Mathis is the Technical Lead for Clarity Design System Web Components at VMware. He has 10+ years of specialization in user experience and front-end development and co-founded a design system that is being used by thousands of developers across a half-dozen Fortune 500 companies. You can find Scott at github.com/mathisscott, on Twitter as @mathis_scott, and on LinkedIn.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:Knapsack: design once, build once, use everywhere. Knapsack is a design system platform rooted in code for shipping consistent apps in half the time. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.Links:View the transcript for this episode.

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Dave Calleja and Chris discuss getting clients to sign off on design systems, strategies for getting executive buy-in, and the role of designer as evangelist.Guest:Dave Calleja is Head of Design at Isobar. He’s been working in digital and UX for over 15 years, from tiny teams to federal government projects. At Isobar he’s pursuing a strong passion for developing insight-aware, hypothesis-led experimentation cultures to empower experience-led transformation. You can find Dave at davecalleja.net, on Twitter as @davecalleja, and on LinkedIn.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:Knapsack: design once, build once, use everywhere. Knapsack is a design system platform rooted in code for shipping consistent apps in half the time. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.Links:View the transcript for this episode.

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Matthew and Chris discuss what’s exciting about design tokens, how APIs streamline communication, the magic of standardized files, and how to spend less time copy-pasting.Guest:Matthew Ström is a Brooklyn-based design leader currently working as Director of Design at SimpleHealth. He’s previously led design teams at Dow Jones, SoundCloud, and Bitly, and he writes about design on his website, matthewstrom.com. You can find Matthew on Twitter as @ilikescience, on LinkedIn, and at matthewstrom.com.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:Knapsack: design once, build once, use everywhere. Knapsack is a design system platform rooted in code for shipping consistent apps in half the time. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.Links: View the transcript for this episode.

Send us feedback or episode suggestions.Jennie and Chris discuss the critical role of storytelling for your design system, using learning moments to drive adoption, what comes next after launching your system, qualitative and quantitative ways to measure system success, and content strategies for design systems.Guest:Jennie Yip is a hybrid design engineer with a heart for elegant user interfaces, simple user experiences, and beautifully crafted code. She is currently focused on evolving Atlassian Design System, and previously Udacity’s Veritas Design System. Jennie loves multiplying systems thinking, organizing chaos, community building, and... propagating plants! 🌱. You can find Jennie at jennieyip.design, on Twitter @jenniesyip, and on LinkedIn.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:Knapsack — Design once, build once, use everywhere. Knapsack is a design system platform rooted in code for shipping consistent apps in half the time. Learn more at knapsack.cloud.Links:View the transcript for this episode.View Atlassian’s design system at atlassian.design.