Design Systems
Part II: Design Language
In part one we took a look at the foundations of Design Systems. If you haven’t read that yet, I suggest you check it out!
In this post we’ll delve into the foundation of a design system: design language.
A Design Language is a shared vocabulary for design.
— IBM
What Is A Design Language?
A design language is the set of standards which guide the creation of a suite of products underneath a brand. I like to think of a design language as the personality of a brand or product and its corresponding visual design assets.
A design language is comprised of three facets:
- Guidelines
- Elements
- Components
You may see no distinction between elements and components within a design language or UI kit. I’ve made the distinction here to illustrate that some components are comprised of other components (elements). I like to call these composite components.
Guidelines
Guidelines are principles which describe how your design language should be leveraged to build products. It includes things such as:
