How do you benchmark design systems in your industry?

1 Define your goals and metrics

To begin benchmarking your design system, you need to determine what you would like to achieve and how you will measure it. Depending on the context and objectives, the focus may be on usability, accessibility, performance, scalability, consistency, or innovation. For each aspect, there needs to be specific and measurable metrics that can help evaluate the design system. Surveys, interviews, and usability tests can measure user satisfaction, feedback, and behavior. Tools like Lighthouse, WebAIM, and Axe can assess web performance and accessibility. Code analysis, documentation, and audits can measure scalability and consistency. Case studies, portfolios, or awards can measure innovation and impact.

2 Gather data and insights

The second step to benchmarking your design system is to gather data and insights from various sources and methods. You should collect quantitative and qualitative data that can help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your design system, as well as the opportunities and threats in your industry. To do this, you can use internal sources such as analytics, feedback, or testing tools to measure how your design system is used and perceived. You can also use external sources like publicly available data, reports, or reviews to compare with other design systems in your industry or domain. Additionally, you can use data visualization, affinity mapping, or SWOT analysis to synthesize the data. Lastly, frameworks like OKRs, SMART, or RACI can be used to align and communicate goals and metrics with your team and stakeholders.

3 Evaluate and prioritize

The third step to benchmarking your design system is to evaluate and prioritize the results and findings from your data and insights. You should compare your design system with other design systems in your industry or domain, as well as with your own goals and metrics, to identify areas of excellence, improvement, and potential for innovation. To do this, you may use a benchmarking matrix to rate each criterion or dimension, a gap analysis diagram to visualize the gaps between your current and desired state of your design system, and a prioritization matrix to prioritize your actions or initiatives based on their impact and effort. Additionally, you can use a prioritization framework like MoSCoW, ICE, or RICE to categorize your actions or initiatives.

4 Implement and iterate

The fourth and final step to benchmarking your design system is to implement and iterate your actions or initiatives based on your evaluation and prioritization. To do this, you should plan and execute your actions or initiatives in a systematic, collaborative way while monitoring the outcomes and feedback. Additionally, you should review and update your goals, metrics, data, and insights as the design system evolves. To achieve this, you may use agile methodology like Scrum or Kanban; a design thinking process like empathize, define, ideate, prototype, or test; or a continuous improvement cycle like Plan, Do, Check, Act. By doing so, you can solve design problems creatively and collaboratively while validating solutions with users and stakeholders.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?