The undoubted benefits of Design Systems

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you have heard about design systems, what they are and how they can make design scalable for design and development teams as well as digital product/project owners. But, should you invest in one in 2019?

First of all, design, as we know it, has changed. The roles now are expanding, its complexity has increased, the development cycles are speeding up, the market and available platforms and tools are more mature and there is a constant need for scaling digital products and teams that work for them. And that is no surprise as scaling means growth and growth is every company’s goal.

During the process of scaling you most probably have encountered certain challenges that helped you come to the following conclusions:

• Designing and building the same thing over and over again is not cost-effective.
• Small fixes are not ever small!
• Repetition is good only if it does not involve mistakes.

If you are nodding your head while reading this it means you’ve been there before.

Why does your company need a Design System?

A design system is a decision that will pay off since it will help you scale your products/projects while saving time and money. Also, if you tend to hand out projects to various teams/vendors then a design system will make onboarding very easy. Especially if your hired teams have the know-how on how to follow a design system.

To get a better understanding, see the image below:

7 Undoubted Benefits of Design Systems

1. Provides a single source of truth. If we see a design system like a language then all parties involved will know and use the same vocabulary. This will save time in collaboration and leave room for a few- if any- mistakes.
2. Increases consistency. By making design reusable, developers can implement consistent UI with ease. Plus, design consistency gives the impression of high quality.
3. Accelerates prototyping and iterations. Designing a new landing page does not have to be hard or time-consuming.
4. Scales the design process. By using single components and joining them together in order to create a seamless and great user experience you give your teams the flexibility and the ability to adapt easily to any digital platform or medium.
5. Decreases maintenance. Since all components are tried, tested and agreed upon reviews and maintenance are performed to a bare minimum.
6. Improves user experience and usability. What is the primary goal of scaling the design of your digital assets? The answer is to benefit from their performance. That being said, user experience is the top priority for products and projects that want to make it into the digital world.
7. Saves time and money. You can use your resources to build new things, scale your efforts and grow your business in the digital world.

The Value of Investing in a Design System

At the end of the day, what is the value you may ask? The simple answer is that having a common design language that can be shared across teams and different vendors handling your digital assets will make the design and development process quicker and easier. A process so explicit that will leave almost no room for error will help teams accelerate their performance in delivering the best end-result instead of using their time to design or implement things that have already been done.

Want to start designing your own Design System? Get in touch with us to discuss how we can best serve your needs.