What is a design system in 2023?
What makes design systems more relevant than ever in 2023? Are they still worth the investment? And what does the future hold for design systems in the new AI powered world.
I think we can all agree that 2023 will go down as the year that we emerged from our conspiracy caves, cast off the pandemic pandemonium and bore witness to what global warming really feels like. So in some ways, writing about design systems feels somewhat equivalent to cosplaying the ‘this is fine’ dog at a Trump rally.
But here we are. Its fine.
Design systems. You know the drill by now, designers love them, engineers want to love them, PM’s love to nod as you explain the latest updates. The execs accepted that enough people wanted one so they let us eat cake and now still don’t really understand why the portfolio is still more FU than UX. But in the main, they are a good thing. I love design systems. Done well, they keep brand experiences in synergy, they accelerate delivery and reduce redundancy. Boo, redundancy.
Equally, design systems are expensive, cumbersome, and endless. They are an investment that can take a long time to produce returns. But sentiment is good for the ol’ D.S. Just look at Adobe’s eye watering $20bn acquisition of Figma. This is not play time anymore. The word is out and design systems are cool, man. But why? Why has it taken this long, and why now?
In my opinion, maturity.
We’re getting there folks. We’ve finally realised that shitty software doesn’t cut it anymore. And that good software equals, well, $20bn in some cases. (Do Figma have a design system, you bet your ass they do) Good software, is not just functional software. It looks beautiful, it’s intuitive and easy to use, and it’s inclusive too, compliant with standards for accessibility. When software is all these things, AND provides a useful service of course, it’s impossible to ignore. Customers become users, become advocates, and eventually sales takes care of themselves.
The industry of software development is the perfect metaphor for a millenial. Yes its getting older, has more responsibility and should be a mature well of wisdom and competency. But the truth is, we’re still hoping that the grown-ups will show up, rub our backs and take over the controls. We’re doing it, we’re shipping products but honestly, the maturing process, well, it’s been slow. (Now you know AI did not write this, fml)
Let’s get back on topic. Design systems are cool, man, and the cool kids are mature and want to create design systems to super-charge their products, it sounds totally cool. We’re all in. 2023. For real. But wait, that’s not the only reason design systems are cool.
(I hope you know by now I’m saying ‘cool’ in a slightly sarcastic, practicing millennial way? I hope? No? Ok.)
Design systems are also having their day in the sun in part thanks to the pandemic. COVID sent us all home. For the best part of 3 years. Team work changed in an instant and the cliché stock photograph of a spectacled creative director pointing with his HB pencil at the artworkers screen was condemned to the archives, possibly forever. Design systems allow distributed teams to collaborate way better. With documentation being at the heart of a design system, having to wait for a zoom call or your designers to come online is no longer necessary. Decisions are codified and usable.
2023 is a good year for design systems. And I haven’t even gotten into the nitty gritty of how the industry is shifting as we speak. Stars are aligning and it’s just getting interesting. And so what of this AI revolution then, how will it affect design systems?
AI is having its impact in design systems design. AI is reducing the investment and time to value in producing design systems. The labor involved in creating swathes of documentation is being automated. It can seek out duplication, kill inconsistency and improve the overall efficacy of the system. But it’s real show-piece is that it can be used to automate the creation of code and even design and UI kit components. This is happening, all of it, as we speak. But I genuinely believe, like this article is testimony, that it will only ever be as good as the human prompting it.
AI should now be recognised as part of the workflow of design systems delivery, if DS designers are ever going to deliver on the value promise. And that is what design systems are in 2023, more effective, more valuable, and yet, still human. Thank goodness.
If you like the sound of this, why not say hello.