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Why a Design System Helps You Crush Your Competition

Why a Design System Helps You Crush Your Competition

Competition in the business world is fierce.

It takes more than a great product or service to stand out from the pack and succeed. You also need to be constantly innovating. If you rest on your laurels, a competitor will come by and take your customers. 

What you need is a well-thought-out design system that helps you innovate quickly.

Here are a few key reasons why having a design system will help you crush your competition:

Example Of A Design System

The importance of a design system

A well-designed interface is a key to a great user experience.

When your users have a positive experience with your product or service, they are more likely to come back and recommend you to their friends.

A design system helps you create a consistent and cohesive user experience across your products and services. This makes it easy for your users to use your products and services, and it makes it easy for them to recommend you to others.

Helps You Scale

1. A design system helps you scale

As your business grows, keeping track of all the pieces that need to come together to create a consistent user experience becomes more challenging.

A design system helps you scale by providing a central repository for all your design assets. This makes it easy for you to update and maintain your design system as your business grows.

If you've ever worked on a very complex product with many features, you know how important this is.

2. A well-designed website or application instils confidence in your potential customers.

When a customer is confident in a business, they are more likely to trust it and invest their time and money into it.

A well-thought-out design system will help you create an interface that is visually appealing, consistent, and easy to use. This will give your potential customers the confidence they need to invest their time and money in your business.

3. It helps you stay agile

A design system helps you stay agile by allowing you to make changes to your products quickly and easily. This is important in today’s ever-changing market landscape.

By rapidly iterating on your design, you can quickly respond to changes in the market and keep your products relevant.

Agile Business Marketing

4. It ensures that your branding is consistent across all touchpoints.

A well-designed design system will help your business crush the competition. This is because a design system ensures that all branding and marketing touchpoints are consistent and look great.

In addition, a design system can help you quickly create new pieces of collateral as needed. As a result, having a well-designed and implemented design system will give your business a significant competitive advantage.

5. It makes it easy for new team members to contribute without compromising the quality of your product.

This is because a design system provides a common language and set of guidelines that everyone on the team can follow. As a result, new team members can hit the ground running and start making an impact right away.

Rather than obsessing over the latest productivity accessories, your team can spend time on what matters most – shipping great products and features.

Stay Productive

6. It saves you time and money in the long run by preventing scope creep and minimising rework.

A design system can help you save time by giving you a starting point for your designs. Instead of starting from scratch every time you create a new product or feature, you can quickly use your design system to create high-quality designs.

In addition, a design system can help you save money by preventing scope creep and minimising rework. By having a well-defined design system, you will be less likely to make changes to your designs that require significant rework.

How a design system helps you stand out from the competition

In today's overcrowded marketplace, a solid visual identity is more important than ever. A design system helps you create a unique and recognisable brand that will make you stand out.

A well-designed system can give you a competitive edge by helping you create cohesive, on-brand designs consistent across all mediums. A design system also makes it easier to keep track of changes and updates, which can help you stay on top of new initiatives and projects.

Why it is essential for your customers

Simply put, a well-designed design system helps customers understand your product and how to use it. It makes it easy for them to find what they need and navigate your website or app.

By providing a consistent experience across all your channels, you can create a strong brand identity that will help you stand out from the competition.

How to create a design system for your business

Commit to a design tool

Figma or Adobe XD are the two most popular

What should you include in your Design System?

There are a few key things that every Design System should include:

  • A style guide with consistent colours, typography, and other visuals
  • A set of reusable UI components
  • An icon system
  • Clear guidelines for usage and implementation
Best Design System Examples

Have your designer create a standardised design component for each typical user interaction

Menus, buttons, dropdowns, tables, etc.

Every common design component should have a reusable element in your design program.

The design system is a collection of standards and rules that govern the look, feel, and function of all the elements on your website. A well-designed system will make it easy for you to create new pages and designs quickly, without starting from scratch every time.

Always work from this system whenever creating any new product or feature

Your design system should be the starting point for all of your new initiatives. It's a source of truth for how things should be creat

Add to the Design System if necessary

If you're adding new features to your product, then it's a good idea to expand your design system to include anything new.

Design Systems Are a Necessity in a Mobile-First World

There's an infinite number of screen sizes to design for these days. It's a massive time drain if you don't have predefined, responsive components for everyday interactions.

Design systems help you quickly adapt your designs to new screen sizes or even create entirely new products using existing design components. With a design system, you can move much faster than your competition.

Creating and maintaining a design system takes significant effort, but it's worthwhile in the long run.

How it will help your Marketing team

A well-designed design system can help your marketing team create consistent, on-brand designs across all mediums. 

When your marketing team has access to a design system, they can create their collateral without waiting for the design team to build out new mock components or features. This saves time and allows for more experimentation.

It also helps the marketing team stay aligned with the company's branding goals. Marketing materials will have a consistent look and feel using the same design language and component library as the product.

This is especially important as more and more companies are moving towards a mobile-first strategy. Systems help you create responsive designs that look great on any screen size.

Design systems are no longer a nice-to-have; they're a necessity.

How it will help communicate with your Developers

Communicate With Developers

Design Systems are a way to communicate the design of an app or website across all mediums.

Related:  Online Payment Gateways: Tips for an eCommerce Website

They help keep designs cohesive and on-brand while communicating specific interactions and animations to developers.

Creating a System can be extremely helpful in streamlining communication between designers and developers, saving both time and headaches. 

One of the most important leadership qualities is communicating with your team effectively. A system helps do that seamlessly. 

When developers understand the design, they can build it out strictly as intended. This means fewer re-work hours spent going back and forth between designer and developer.

Overall, Design Systems help create a better product by improving communication and collaboration between teams.

How to Sell the idea to your Coworkers and Bosses

If you're having trouble getting buy-in for your system from your coworkers or boss, try framing it as a way to improve communication and collaboration between teams.

Explain how a Design System can help the design team work more efficiently and how it can help the development team build the product faster and with fewer errors.

It's also a good idea to show examples of other companies successfully implementing a system. This will help your team see the potential benefits and how you can do it.

Be persistent and keep pushing for a System; it will pay off in the long run!

Remote Working Makes it More Important than Ever

A system is even more critical if your team is remote.

Design systems help remote teams stay aligned with company branding goals and design standards. They also improve communication by providing a common language for designers and developers to use when discussing the product.

If you're working on a remote team, advocate for a system. It will help keep your team organised and on track.

10 Examples of World-Class Design Systems

Mailchimp Pattern Library

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a company that knows the importance of a well-designed design system.

They have been using their system for years, and it has helped them create cohesive, on-brand designs that are consistent across all mediums.

Their design system helps keep designs cohesive and on-brand while communicating specific interactions and animations to developers.

Creating a system has helped Mailchimp streamline communication between designers and developers, saving time and headaches. 

If you're looking for inspiration for your system, check out Mailchimp.

Shopify Branding Guide

Shopify

The Shopify Design System is a comprehensive system that helps keep designs cohesive and on-brand.

It also helps designers and developers share ideas and feedback quickly.

Creating a system has helped Shopify create a better product by improving team communication and collaboration. If you're looking for inspiration for your design system, check out Shopify.

Airbnb Design System

Airbnb

The Airbnb System is another excellent example of a company that uses one effectively.

Their system helps keep designs cohesive and on-brand while communicating specific interactions and animations to developers.

Creating a system has helped Airbnb streamline communication between designers and developers, saving time and headaches.

If you're looking for inspiration for your system, check out Airbnb.

Buffer Design Guide

Buffer

The Buffer Design System is based on a modular approach, allowing for greater flexibility and faster turnaround times. By breaking down your design into smaller, reusable pieces, you can easily make changes and modifications without starting from scratch each time. This also makes it easier to keep your designs consistent across different devices and screen sizes.

In addition to greater flexibility, the Buffer System also helps improve your workflow by providing a central repository for all your design assets. This means you can easily access and share your designs with others and keep track of changes and version history.

The Buffer System is open source and free to use, so there's no reason not to try it. It is worth checking out if you're looking for a way to improve your workflow and make your designs more consistent.

Google Material Design

Google Material Design System

Google's Material Design System is a set of design principles that help create a unified and consistent user experience across all platforms and devices. The goal is to provide users with a straightforward, concise, and visually appealing interface that makes it easy to find what they're looking for and complete their desired task.

The Material Design System consists of five fundamental principles:

Material is the metaphor: A unifying design language should be used that incorporates real-world objects and materials.

Bold, graphic, and intentional: Design elements should be eye-catching and easy to understand.

Motion provides meaning: Animated elements should be used to help guide the user's attention and provide feedback on their actions.

Flat and layered: A mix of two-dimensional and three-dimensional elements should be used to create depth and hierarchy.

Responsive: The design should adapt to different screen sizes and devices.

Atlassian Design Guidelines

Atlassian

Atlassian, a software company, known for products such as Jira and Confluence, recently released its design system. The Atlassian Design System, or ADS for short, is a library of code components, design patterns, and documentation that helps developers build beautiful and consistent user interfaces.

The beauty of a system is that it provides a set of reusable components that can be used to build complex user interfaces while maintaining a consistent look and feel. This saves developers time and effort and ensures that products have a consistent look and feel, which can help create a more cohesive user experience.

Apple Human Interface Guidelines

Apple Human Interface Guidelines

The Apple Human Interface Guidelines are design principles that help developers create intuitive, user-friendly interfaces for their apps. They cover everything from layout and typography to gestures and animations. Following these guidelines will make your app look and feel like a genuine Apple product and make it easier for users to navigate.

Following the Apple Human Interface Guidelines is a great place to start if you're looking to create a competitive edge for your app. By making your app more user-friendly, you'll not only improve the user experience but also make it more likely that users will recommend your app to others.

When it comes to design, Apple is the gold standard. Their products are sleek, elegant, and easy to use. If you can create an app that looks and feels like an Apple product, you're sure to impress your users.

The Apple Human Interface Guidelines are an excellent resource for creating a beautiful, user-friendly interface.

Ibm Carbon Design

IBM Carbon

The IBM Carbon Design System is a suite of tools, libraries, and guidelines for designing system-level user interfaces. It helps you to create a design language that is both consistent and scalable across different platforms and devices. The system provides the necessary resources to help you design high-quality user interfaces that meet the needs of your users.

The Carbon System is built on the IBM Design Language, design principles and guidelines based on user-centred design. The system includes various reusable components that can be used to build user interfaces. These components are designed to be flexible and easy to use, so you can create a wide range of designs that meet the specific needs of your users.

The Carbon System is a free, open-source project on GitHub. The project is released under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Visit the Carbon System website to learn more about the system and how you can use it to design great user interfaces.

Microsoft Fluent Design System

Microsoft Fluent Design System

The Fluent Design System is a new design language from Microsoft that helps you create beautiful, intuitive, and consistent user experiences across devices. It provides the tools you need to create a design system for your app or website and makes it easy to keep your designs consistent across different platforms.

Fluent Design is based on the principle of making things “just work.” It's designed to be easy to use, so you can focus on creating beautiful and intuitive user experiences. And because it's based on cross-platform standards, you can easily create a system that works across all devices.

The Fluent system is built on the Windows 10 platform and is available to all developers. It's also available for web, iOS, and Android.

You're in Good Company

Why aren't you if the most successful companies on earth are all using design systems?

The most prominent companies in the world all have systems. Apple has one, Google has one, Amazon has one, and even Microsoft has one. Why? Because design systems help them crush their competition.

It is a collection of reusable components used to build a product or service. It's like a lego set for designers and developers. Instead of starting from scratch every time they need to build something new, they can just grab the components they need and put them together.

This saves an incredible amount of time and money and leads to a more consistent user experience across products and services.

So if you're not using a system, you're at a serious disadvantage. Your competition is already ahead of you, and they're only going to get further ahead.

Now is the time to invest in a design system for your company. It will pay for itself many times over and help you crush your competition.

Summary

Design systems are becoming increasingly important to stay competitive in the market. A well-designed system can give you a significant competitive edge by helping you to create cohesive, on-brand designs that are consistent across all platforms.

In addition, a design system can help you quickly create new pieces of collateral as needed. As a result, having a well-designed and implemented system will give your business a significant competitive advantage.

Creating a system does require some upfront work, but it will save you time and money in the long run by preventing scope creep and minimising rework. If you're not currently using a design system, start today. Future, you will thank you for it.

Author Bio: Nick Patrocky is a UX/UI designer, app reviewer, software reviewer, and blogger. Nick’s worked with over 150+ clients from countries all around the globe. Nick also enjoys reviewing mobile apps, web apps, and websites. Check out his blog if you want to know what it takes to be an app designer or a successful freelancer.

Photo of author

Stuart Crawford

Stuart Crawford is an award-winning creative director and brand strategist with over 15 years of experience building memorable and influential brands. As Creative Director at Inkbot Design, a leading branding agency, Stuart oversees all creative projects and ensures each client receives a customised brand strategy and visual identity.

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