July 19, 20264 min readEleven App Studios
Design systems for teams that move fast
A design system is not a component library. It is a shared set of decisions that stops your team from re-litigating spacing every sprint.
Tokens before components
Start with colour, type, spacing, and motion as named tokens. Components come after. Teams that start with components end up with forty buttons.
Document the why
Every token needs a sentence explaining when to reach for it. Without that, the system becomes a menu instead of a set of decisions.
Keep it alive
A design system that is not used within two sprints of shipping is already dead. Ship it inside a real feature.
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