Hey friend,
Well I know I may not have earned the friendship sit yet, but be patient with me🌚. I’m learning baby steps through being better friends with you because I truly appreciate having you here🫂
Now I’d like us to talk about something super important today…your design voice.
You see, I truly believe every designer has a unique way of thinking, creating, and solving problems. But here’s the thing, many designers step into the industry by simply copying what’s already out there. Not necessarily a bad thing (we all learn by imitation at some point), but what happens when you never take time to figure out your perspective? It sounds scary, I know. But it’s been happening
A few years ago, during a team meeting at one of my job, we were asked to share our thoughts on a design problem. And me? I either reworded what others had said or mumbled some unsure response. I never actually sat with my own thoughts long enough to figure out what I truly believed. I just wanted to sound agreeable 🤷🏾♀️.
But that’s not how you grow. And while I figured that about me and learned the hard way, I won’t like that to be the case for you as well.
So here’s my challenge for you: Make time to sit with your own creativity. Step away from trends for a bit, stop scrolling, and just listen to your mind. What kind of designer do you want to be? How would you solve a problem?
The designers that truly stand out are the ones who take time to study, experiment, and develop their own perspectives, not just the ones who blend in. It’s okay to be different, with justifiable course of course (in design we will say “clear rationale”)
Now, shifting gears a little...let’s talk about design systems—one of my favorite things!
From point 101, let’s clear something up: A design system is NOT just a bunch of buttons and components sitting pretty in Figma. Nope. It’s way more than that.
So what is a Design System?:
A structured system that keeps design consistent across products.
Please note: Consistency isn’t about making everything look the same, it’s about making everything feel like it belongs, no matter how much the product evolves.
Design system is a toolkit that helps designers and developers work smoothly together.
Design system is a growing, evolving guide that keeps everything in sync.
What isn’t a Design System? :
A one-time project you slap together and forget.
A creativity killer (it should actually empower creativity!).
Just a fancy UI kit (we’ll get to that in a second, hold my milk first🥛).
Let’s take a short break!
Alright, we’re back! Hope you shared it…I’d really appreciate it if you did. It means a lot to me!
UI Kit vs. Design System
Because people mix this up all the time, let’s address it today;
UI Kit is a collection of pre-designed elements like buttons, cards, and icons. It’s useful, but it doesn’t come with rules or a structure.
Design System is a UI kit plus detailed guidelines, principles, and best practices that make sure your designs are scalable and consistent.
So when you think of a design system, think about all the pretty button groups, avatar, etc, then think of detailed guideline for usage and think scalability.
But when does a team require a design system?
When do you think you (the design system enthusiast within the team) or the design system team should think to build a design system?
When your product is growing and needs design consistency.
When your team is scaling and things are getting messy.
When you want to stop reinventing the wheel every time you start a new project.
Some folks have done intense work in hacking this design system thing for large/small teams and I believe you can check them out to learn more what a design system is and what it isn’t. I added a few of them below;
Material Design (Google) – material.io
Carbon Design System (IBM) – carbondesignsystem.com
Atlassian Design System – atlassian.design
IBS Design System (Yep, we’re on the list! 💛) – IBS Design System
Now the big question!
Does Your Team Need a Design System or Just a UI Kit?
If you're in a small startup, a UI kit might be enough for now.
If your team is growing fast, a design system will save everyone headaches.
If you’re working on enterprise-level products, a design system is a must.
Yup! It’s a wrap “friend” 😉, am ending this love letter by reiterating what I mentioned earlier
Your design journey is personal, take time to listen to your own creative instincts. Be intentional about finding your voice. And when it comes to scaling your designs, a well-structured system makes all the difference.
I’ll send you another letter next week, where we’ll break down how to actually build a design system or integrate one into your workflow (because what’s the point of all this if you don’t know where to start?). Be expectant!
Until next time, here’s to growing together. 🌱
🖤🤍,
Blessed
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