Table of contents

• Introduction
• Short term pain for long term gain
• Why are they not using our design system?
• Methods to increase adoption
• Final words

est 14 min read

Introduction At Sitecore and Templafy, we successfully developed and delivered two headless design systems, I am now sharing the insights and lessons learned from these two projects. Another lesson I shared was Creating a headless design system with Figma.

A common issue with a design systems is adoption.

Short term pain for long term gain Incorporating a design system into the day-to-day operations of product teams in a organization will present challenges, particularly when it's viewed as an additional burden. This perception is understandable, given the relentless pursuit of OKRs by product teams and the perpetual lack of time. Overcoming this hurdle is essential to realizing the significant benefits a design system can offer to a team.

To shift this perception, gaining buy-in from stakeholders is a premature first step in adopting a design system. As part of design system teams in the past, our focus has been on effectively communicating the tangible benefits to our stakeholders before starting the “design system project”.

• cost-saving: Auditing existing components across teams identified duplication of effort. By using pre-built components and design patterns, designers can create new products more quickly and efficiently, which can ultimately save the organisation money in development costs.
• consistency: Using reusable components across teams make it easier to maintain and update the brand identity by providing a shared language and understanding of design principles.
• scalability: A design system can help when scaling digital products and platforms more efficiently by providing a standardised framework for design and development.
• accessibility: By incorporating accessibility guidelines and best practices into the design system we can ensure that the organisation’s digital products and platforms are accessible to all users. Note: this would not get your product to WCAG levels but is a good start.
• innovation: A design system can provide designers with a solid foundation from which to experiment and create, rather than reinventing the wheel with each new project.
• collaboration: Design systems promote collaboration and communication among team members by providing a shared language and understanding of design principles. This can help break down silos and work more efficiently as a team.