June 23, 2021
newsletterHey! Happy Wednesday.
Like any innovative endeavor, thereâs some backlash against design systems in the industry. Design systems is often called a âbuzzword,â and there are constantly hot takes making fun of if on Twitter. I donât think âdesign systemsâ is a trend. I think itâs just the way that we will build for the web moving forward. Itâs a mindset shift, just like agile or responsive design was.
Itâs true that large-scale design systems initiatives arenât a fit for every company. Not every single company needs to build Material Design â that would be impractical.
But I think that just about every company (with the potential exception of very early stage startups) could benefit from applying design systems thinking to their design and engineering efforts.
I think a lot of this criticism comes down to a misunderstanding of what design systems actually is. In my (controversial) opinion, all of these examples anything can qualify as design systems as long as it intends to:
I know, I know â this sounds odd. I can explain myself, but itâs going to involve a brief detour into systems theory.
Donella Meadows, the author of Thinking in Systems: A Primer defines a system as âan interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something.â All systems consist of three parts: elements, interconnections, and a function or purpose.
Elements are discrete entities that make up a system. Meadows uses a tree as an example: âthe elements that make up a tree are roots, trunk branches, and leaves. If you look more closely, you see specialized cells: vessels carrying fluid up and down, chloroplasts, and so on.â
A tree contains certain things that make the tree system work â but a tree system isnât defined by the fact that it has roots. Itâs just one aspect of the system.
Letâs apply this to design systems! Iâve defined some common elements that we find in design systems across the industry:
Each of these elements may or may not be present in a design system. Some design systems contain all of these elements and more, while others only contain one or two. But we canât determine whether something is a design system only by naming the elements it contains. A collection of elements is not a system ââ we still need to define the systemâs interconnections and purpose.
Meadows defines interconnections as the ârelationships that hold the elements together.â She returns to the tree system to exemplify how elements are interconnected in a system:
The interconnections in the tree system are the physical flows and chemical reactions that govern the treeâs metabolic processesââthe signals that allow one part to respond to what is happening in another part. For example, as the leaves lose water on a sunny day, a drop in pressure in the water-carrying vessels allows the roots to take in more water.
To define a tree system works, we canât just know that a tree has leaves. We also need to understand how leaves interact with other aspects in the system â for example how the leaves help the tree to manage its water intake.
Design systems work in the same way. For example, a design system isnât defined by having design assets. We also need to understand how the assets interact with other aspects of the system.
There is an infinite number of possible interconnections in a design system; Iâve listed some below:
Not all design systems contain the same interconnections. We canât define a design system based on the elements or the interconnections; we can only define it based on its intended purpose.
The function (for systems not designed by humans) or purpose (for systems designed by humans) can be determined by how the system behaves. To return to the tree example once more, one function of a tree is to consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the ecosystem.
Meadows writes:
A systemâs function or purpose is not necessarily spoken, written, or expressed explicitly, except through the operation of the system. The best way to deduce the systemâs purpose is to watch for a while to see how the system behaves.
The only way to accurately understand a systemâs purpose is by watching its behavior.
We cannot dictate how a system behaves, or what its purpose is. We can only try to adjust the elements and interconnections of a system to impact the systemâs behavior. This information is relevant to those of us working on design systems who find that what weâve created isnât achieving its intended purpose, but it doesnât help us to define design systems.
The only way to define a design system is by its intended purpose(s). With that in mind, Iâve settled on the following definition of design systems.
A design system is an interconnected set of elements intended to:
Anything, whether itâs a component library, whether itâs a collection of design assets, whether itâs as robust as Material Design, can be considered a design system as long as it meets one or more of the intended purposes in that definition.
What do you think? Is design systems just trendy right now, or do you think it represents a larger shift in the industry? Reply to this email and let me know (or just say hi, Iâd love to hear from you).
Talk soon,
Mae
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