A “pattern” approach to design systems.

A design system is something every product team needs or uses (or plans to make), but that means very different things to different teams!


For small teams, a design system can seem confining or like “extra” work or design debt, and for larger companies, it can be tricky to balance having consistency without disempowering teams.  Here’s what I think is a durable and useful way to think about design systems to avoid those pitfalls.
Published as an article in Smashing Magazine Design Patterns Are A Better Way To Collaborate On Your Design System