Ep22. Are design systems worth it?
About this episode
The episode discusses the value and implementation of design systems in web design with guest Paul Lacey.
On the podcast today, we’re joined by Paul Lacey. Paul has been working in web design and development since 1999, and in that time he’s witnessed the evolution of the industry from the early days without CSS, through the dot-com boom, to the modern era of design systems. He’s put together his own design systems for professional and client work, and brings first-hand, practical experience to our chat. Paul joins our regular hosts, Nathan Wrigley and David Waumsley, to help demystify what “design systems” actually are, and why they might matter to all of us, not just the largest organisations. We kick things off by uncovering the surprisingly varied definitions of design systems, including perspectives from the Nielsen Norman Group and Figma. The conversation quickly turns to what design systems look like in real-world settings: are they just libraries of reusable components, or do they go deeper than the visual layer to include things like code, documentation, and accessibility? Paul, David, and Nathan talk through the differences between style guides, design tokens, component libraries, and pattern libraries, and where the lines between them blur. We touch on how design systems…
People in this episode
Hosts: Nathan Wrigley, David Waumsley
Guest: Paul Lacey
Topics covered
- design systems
- web design
- collaboration
- accessibility
- component libraries
- style guides
Keywords
- design systems
- web design
- CSS
- component libraries
- accessibility
- style guides
- collaboration
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Nielsen Norman Group, Figma, UK government
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