How I learned to stop worrying and love the Design System
During my professional career I worked on many different projects — some were created from scratch, original ideas for small mobile apps, others had to be in line with my client’s style. I used to work for a big one — a huge platform that was used by millions of people everyday. And, unfortunately, a design system for it was not in place yet.
A team of great designers was working at full speed to deliver best possible product — and we were all tripping over every hurdle along the way: inconsistent use of components or patterns and needless reinventing of existing solutions. Then always came the development issues: without design system I had to work really fast and reconcile with the fact that the end product was almost never what I was planning it to be.
Eight months ago I changed my job and now I am working for Fortum. Lucky for me, this time I am working with a design system called Elemental. And things have changed for me. In a big way.
Design system gave me a head start
I joined Fortum knowing that there is a design system set up and being worked on. It is always stressful to change jobs — you meet new people and learn about your new responsibilities — the amount of new information can make your head spin. One of the things that made transitions so much easier for me, was the design system. When I began my first assignment, I already had the groundwork done — I hit the ground running.
Build on what you are given
Number one fear, when starting to work with a design system is: does this mean I no longer get to be creative? Will my work be just drag and drop ready made elements from now on? Well, yes and no.
Design systems are often compared to Lego blocks — and for a good reason. They are simple elements that fit well together and can be arranged in a multitude of ways: six pieces of Lego can be joined in 915,103,765 ways and the same is with a design system — you will never run out of new possibilities.
When you are given a set of ready components, you can focus on designing the product on the higher level.
The aesthetic choices were made for you so you can focus on a bigger picture but also… on subtle details.
While working with Elemental design system I found it is surprisingly flexible and solutions built from it can vary — just like from Lego blocks. Working with a foundation of a design system allows me to tackle the big picture in a shorter period of time, leaving enough to polish my designs on a level of subtle details, that will aid the users, instead of redrawing the whole page over and over.
Learn from your colleagues
Sharing design system’s library with other designers can be educational on a technical level but it is also a lesson of empathy. I learn to retrace their steps and form my own conclusions. To use properly what has already been designed, I need to have an in-depth understanding of it. Why this component looks like this? How does this tie to other components from the system? I am asking and answering these questions, learning to form arguments for and against in a safe space of my own mind.
I am working together with other designers at Fortum on new additions to Elemental, presenting our work within our small circle. And this is the time, when the skill to defend design decision comes really handy. There are no smoke and mirrors here — presenting work to fellow designers is different than pitching to a client. I am listening and observing how they justify their choices — and learning from them. Work on a design system is a unique opportunity because conversation is about Design, not about conversion or some product-specific tasks. There is no business perspective here.
Not to mention, that working on Elemental brings us closer together, which is a rare opportunity, since we are all usually working on our own separate projects.
Keep improving
Design system is a work never finished. Creating additions to Elemental taught me a lot — first learning about constraints that I have and then to move within them.
Making informed decisions influenced greatly my confidence.
Although I wasn’t there to make all the design choices for all components, I get to learn from them.
Before I began working at Fortum I did have a thought at the back of my head: “Will the design system limit my creativity? Won’t this become boring?” It’s been eight months and it still hasn’t. Our system helped me grow in ways I haven’t expected and proved to be more of an aid rather than an obstacle when designing usable products.
And when it seemed that I could get a little bored with our green theme, we started adding new ones. In the meantime, improved accessibility. And added dark mode. And the fun will never stop! Because a design system is a work never finished :)
*Fortum is a leading clean-energy company developing and offering solutions for our global customers in electricity, heating, cooling, as well as solutions to improve resource efficiency. Digitalization is enabling us to create new customer offerings and improve the productivity of our businesses. See more on www.fortum.com
