DesignAI Generated
Design Systems That Scale
Creating consistent and maintainable design systems for growing teams and evolving products.
Sebastjan MislejMarch 5, 20246 min read
- Consistency: Every component should feel like it belongs to the same family
- Composability: Components should be designed to work together in flexible combinations
- Accessibility: Baked into every component from the start, not bolted on later
- Documentation: Clear guidelines for when and how to use each component
- Color tokens: Primary, secondary, semantic (success, warning, error), and neutral scales
- Spacing tokens: A consistent scale (4px, 8px, 12px, 16px, 24px, 32px, 48px, 64px)
- Typography tokens: Font families, sizes, weights, and line heights
- Shadow tokens: Elevation levels for depth and hierarchy
- **Primitives**: Button, Input, Text, Box — the building blocks
- **Composites**: Card, Form, Dialog — composed from primitives
- **Patterns**: Navigation, Sidebar, Dashboard Layout — composed from composites
- **Templates**: Full page layouts — composed from patterns
A well-built design system is the foundation of any successful digital product. It ensures consistency, speeds up development, and creates a shared language between designers and developers.
Core Principles
Every design system should be built on these principles:
Token Architecture
Design tokens are the atoms of your design system:
Component Hierarchy
Structure your components in layers:
Maintaining the System
A design system is a living product. Assign ownership, establish contribution guidelines, version your releases, and regularly audit usage across your applications to identify gaps and inconsistencies.