Avoiding the Common Drawbacks in Design Systems: Lessons Learned and Tips for Success

As a developer with more than two years of experience working on design systems, I’ve learned that while design systems can make our work more efficient, they can sometimes bring problems as well if they’re not set up properly. In this article, I’ll outline some of the most common mistakes I’ve seen in design systems and how to avoid them.

The Backbone of the System?

Design Systems Are Foundations, Not Just Tools

It's not just a bunch of buttons, icons, and color codes A design system is kind of like the base for a building — it needs a solid foundation so it can grow and support different projects

Key Advice:

• Let your design system be a product, not an ongoing project. It should develop over time as you would any other product.
• Make it flexible – Your system should make adjustments as you need them.
• Pick a good order for the components – ensure a good structure for how people will use the components.

Lack of Governance and Ownership

Who’s in Charge?

One obvious mistake I've seen is not identifying who owns the design system. If no one can keep the system up to date or ensure that it's being used correctly, it's easy for it to fall apart.

How to Fix This:

• Have a team that monitors the system - a small group of designers/developers and other key people should control and make decisions about how to update the system.
• Monitor how it's used - watch for how people are using it and how it's working for them.
• Lay the rules - lay out the basics for how you allow people to add/delete components.

Making the System Too Complicated

Keep It Simple and Reusable

A common mistake is to add too many components or features that are not needed. A design system should be very simple and focus on the ' core ' components that can be reused on many projects.

How to Keep It Simple/How to Do This:

• Start simple - you want to create a system using relatively small components ( like buttons or form fields ) that are extendable in many ways.
• Don't be super-engineered - Only add features that you think you need. Do it as simply as possible.

Not Thinking About Performance

Performance Is Important

Obviously, I never thought about how the design system might affect our website/app performance, as if components were slow, they would deter adoption of the design system, and worsen the performance of the website.

How to Improve This:

• Speed matters - Make sure all your components are lightweight and do not add any overhead to the site/app.
• Load lazy data – load only those parts of the design system that you can handle right now.
• Monitor performance – Set up monitoring of load times and make changes accordingly.

Ignoring Developer Experience

Make It Easy for Developers to Use

If the design system is difficult to use by developers you will not get developers to use it. if it is difficult to understand how to implement the components, your system will not work.

How to Help Developers:

• Documentation – Make sure that documentation for the use of the design system is clear to follow.
• Automate testing: Create automatic tests that ensure everything works right and meets the rules.

Not Keeping Documentation Up to Date

My worst mistake early on was not updating the documentation. If the system changes and the documentation does not it’s going to make everyone who’s using it super confused.

How to Avoid This:

• Use regular documentation updates - When the design system changes, keep the guidelines up-to-date so everyone knows what's changed.
• Use tools like Storybook – Tools like Storybook can help demonstrate how components work so developers can understand better.

Not Getting the Whole Team on Board

A design system will only be helpful if the whole team adopts it. If a few people are using it then it won't provide the consistency you need.

How to Drive Adoption:

• Explain the benefits – Explain exactly how using the design system will help everyone save time and produce better designs.
• Offer training - make sure everyone knows how to use the system and make sure the new team members have onboarding materials.
• Offer incentives for use – reward teams or individuals who use the system well and help others get on board with it.

Conclusion:

An effective design system can be a game-changer in improving consistency and reusability. But it can be complicated. Make sure you have a business case (that won’t be changed if it shows up) and that you document your system, but also ensure that there is governance so that it works for your team and your organization.

Key Takeaways:

• Keep the system simple and flexible.
• Focus on performance.
• Make sure everyone knows how to use the system.
• Regularly update your documentation.

If you devote enough time to those two areas, you can build a design system that will enable your team to work faster with better results and less frustration.