[5min read][Part 3/3] Figma Config 2024: Design systems best practices
Ana Boyer, Alexia Danton & Chad Bergman (Designer Advocate Figma) will tell us more about design system best practices. It is a 3 parts article, don’t hesitate to check the end of the article or my profile for more details.
TLDR;
Your design system is not forever. Think about how you can update and depreciate your components. You can for example use branches to avoid draft or duplication in your file.
The conf;
The top subjects of this conference:
This long conference will be divided into several articles. Hope that it will make it simpler to understand :)
- Principles for working with design systems in Figma (Medium article Part 1)
- Insights gathered from the design system community (Medium article Part 2)
- Figma best practices and features (This article)
Figma best feature for collaborations and enablement
Nothing is forever in a DS
You will have to support new use cases, new technologies, new or old components, rebrand…
Tips from Figma team:
- Don’t change your source of truth (Code repo, Figma library, …)
If you’re making big changes, teams may duplicate the library..
- You can use branch
-> Helps having a clean file with no “in progress” or draft components
- Sharing the dev mode link from the branch to the dev and coordinate to check when changes are merged
So in sumup for all updates:
Start with a straightforward component and use than to plan and test. Advance to a more complex and complex component
- Depreciated components
It’s important to also indicate depreciated components. (eg: Verizon talk for more info https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjFIUk1MNp8&t=37s)
Some tips for that,
- Naming layers
- New values in props {DEPRECIATED}
- Icons ❌🔴
In conclusion
No matter how good, it will run it’s course (bc: systems evolves, platform, OS…)
That’s the end of this Design system trilogy. Hope you liked it :)
— — — — — —
Sources
If you want more resources on this topic;
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJTCfSFLUGE
Full side notes from this conference: (to be published)
Figma resources: https://www.figma.com/community/file/1389734809448723368/config-2024-design-systems-best-practices-resources
