Design Systems: The difference between a Style guide and Pattern Library
It has been such a lovely experience so far interning with Genesys Tech hub as a product designer. We were just recently introduced to the concept of design systems, style guides and pattern libraries. These are terms every product designer should know. Not just to know what they mean, but also how to use, build and implement design systems, style guides and pattern libraries.
What is a Design System?
Before we go any further, I’d love to share with you some definitions of what a design system is.
“The complete set of design standards, documentation, and principles along with the toolkit (UI patterns and code components) to achieve those standards”
— Uxpin.com
“Simply put, a design system is a collection of reusable components to tie whole products together”
— Freecodecamp.org
“Everything that makes up your product” — “From typography, layouts and grids, colors, icons, components and coding conventions, to voice and tone, style-guide and documentation, a design system is bringing all of these together in a way that allows your entire team to learn, build and grow”
— css-tricks.com
From the definitions above, we have an idea of what a design system is.
I’d define a design system as a set of rules, principles, scheme or procedures that consist of visual style guides, pattern libraries, brand guidelines and values, documentation which forms the base of a shared design language that aids in building standard, efficient and consistent products.
It is important to note that design systems are like living things. They constantly evolve and develop alongside the product and at the advent of new technologies.
Contents of a Design System
Although not all design systems are the same (Usually tailored to a specific brand or product), they have similar contents. The design system as defined above consists of the brand shared values and purpose, Design principles, Brand Identity and language, style-guides, components and patterns, coding conventions, best practices and policies that govern it, with the fundamental purpose to facilitate teamwork.
Links to Some popular Design systems
You can check out some links below to gain a better understanding of what a design system is. A good exercise is to compare and contrast, highlight the similarities and differences between these design systems.
- Material Design system by Google
3. Human Interface Guidelines by Apple
4. Fluent Design System by Microsoft
Style Guides What are they?
A style guide is a document which contains sets of rules or standards for the graphic style, colour, typography, iconography, imagery and principles of a brand and gives direction on how to use it. Style guides answer the question of “How” something should look like and “Where” it should be implemented. Some benefits of having a style guide includes:
Consistency: It aids visual consistency throughout your product and brand. This helps create a trustful relationship with your audience or users.
Easy Onboarding: Having a style guide for your brand helps with easy onboarding of new designers or team members, and they can easily participate or make design decisions.
The link below shows the four square style guide as a sample of what a style guide looks like.
Pattern Libraries What are they?
A pattern library is a well-organized set of reusable Functional design components. It is usually referred to be the heart of a typical design system. Pattern libraries define what the User Interface components of your products are, how they behave and how they should be used or implemented in your digital product. Just as style guides answer the question of “how” something should look like and “where” it should be implemented, Pattern libraries answer the question of “What” something is and “How” it should behave in your product.
There are a lot of pattern libraries on the internet but I’d just list two I found interesting. Below are the links to the two libraries
Natashahockey Pattern Library: This pattern library showcases components that are to be used in a portfolio website. Each component is very well documented for precise and clear usage. It’s well organized and you can check it out.
Mail chimp Pattern Library: This is another example of what a pattern library looks like. It’s developed by Mail chimp.
Style Guide vs Pattern Library
Although design system, style guides and pattern library may be similar, they are all different. Design system encompasses style guides and pattern library. In other words, both style guides and pattern library are subclasses of a design system. A Style Guide can typically encompass a company’s branding guidelines, which could include: logo usage, designated colour palette, typography e.t.c while a pattern library often encompasses static UI elements, e.g. tabbed navigation, dropdown menu, accordion e.t.c
Conclusively, design systems, pattern library and style guides ensure that the process of product design is carried out swiftly and efficiently. They aid in the building of scalable products faster while maintaining consistent user experience.
