The future of design system
This Medium post is a compilation of thoughts of what I know and hope (with a realistic perception) about the future of Design System.
Currently, we're living in a "corner of eras"… I mean, we can imagine what we'll do in a near future, but we couldn't be precise about how we'll accomplish those predictions. The technology have been growing exponentially since it started and "Moore's Law" show us this accelerated pace of changes. So, can we think about the future of Design System?
after 5 years
The year is 2027, now complex tokens is common, for example, scalable and simple motion tokens led us in a higher ground of design system's maturity.
It is only possible because now the online tool's performance (as Figma) and development languages are now totally "Design System driven", I mean, the approach is "that is how we reuse and scale things with quality, intelligence and personalization for digital products and services".
The design layer in DS is all parameterizable exactly as we have in a development layer, in other words, we can maintain the DS foundation in Figma (that feature is already in the core of the tool) and it goes directly to the validation process in dev repository.
Well, wait!
We don't call it "Design System" anymore, now we have "Product System".
Wow! That's a big thing, right?
Yep, the name "design system" with the word "design" makes difficult to understand the proposal of a systematization of digital products (mainly when the leaders involved don't understand the goal of this approach). That way we now can distribute the responsibilities in design, business and technology.
How does this new name impact the design strategy?
Let's go, we're in 2027 and the world is changed (maybe not that much), but there is a thing that doesn't change at all, it's what we've been through, our past experiences keep with us as knowledge. So, if you are a designer probably you already experienced a product emphasized much more technology, while design was all about pretty screens and cool icons. We need to get this in mind.
Now we're talking about force balance, do you know that shining triangles from Zelda? Or the pillars that must boost a product? I mean: design, business and technology. Right, we need to put these things together.
Just merge both: our previously experience with ignorance about the importance of design plus the obligation to put these three in a balance.
Life finds a way
That's is only one more responsibility for us. And this effort will bring us a happily ever after (just keep reading).
after 10 years
The year is 2032, now we have consistent AI working directly in creating PS (the old DS) specified to active our digital product's needs. Also, the AI consumes a PS to build another PS. That's the funny point, it's circular.
Do you need a multi-thematic Design System with a Flutter language?
Ok, then CurtAIs (a life tribute to Nathan Curtis) already knows the best practices on market and ran a first round of MVP in 5 minutes of processing (maybe less).
But, what are we going to do as a product designers that works with Design Systems?
We are able to focus on guide the best A/B tests, fake doors, user’s automated journeys, the ideal mapping of user’s needs data based (automated too), neural mapping (is this ethical?) or maybe even as a solution designers (a new way to solve problems with more rightness and greater range of action).
The user interface design tools are connected to CurtAIs, developing and showing us the best way to elaborate, document and handoff all the specifications. Providing us the perfect layout for the user's needs.
Yep, everything is automated.
after 25 years
The year is 2047, the Product System (remember, that's our old Design System) is very common, it just works so well that we don’t need to do anything more directly with it, the CurtAIs v18.10 just get the job done.
It works just fine on digital products and services, but not only in the gadgets that we know (we from 20's), now the PS works on holograph, conversational interface, smart homes, autonomous cars, deep fakes (now we can have the marketing and publicity guided totally by the product data), biotechnology (as Neuralink) and translucent screens (hello, Minority Report!).
So, now we have a new meaning…
We (designers) can focus on sustainability.
Nuclear fusion already does its job, now that's the answer for the sustainable energetic resources. So, we can worry in how do we redirect the energy that exceeds of our business in resources that benefits the reconstruction of all the problems that we cause although the last centuries. At least for us to maintain our livelihood.
Well, in other words, we can really think in our society life's quality. It's a social experiment based in a kind of soft capitalism (but that's another Medium post).
This final thoughts can be boring for some people, but I prefer to be a hopeful realistic.
The text was inspired by a conversation with Gabriella Dias, so thanks for the ideas!
