Building a Design System → Part I: The smallest version of a design system

Despite the fact that design systems are pretty awesome, I recently found myself in a situation where a design system was not the best choice, so I’d like to write an article for designers who are in the process of building a design system for digital experiences like websites or apps. This article would cover anything from the smallest version of a design system to the largest version, which is subjective since a design system can go infinity. Let’s get started with the smallest version of a design system and some experiences which need to be shared.

Be aware! A Design system creates additional costs

A design system encourages you to devote more time to your project before it is completed. If you are a small company with a limited budget, a design system can be more of a financial and time disaster than a win for the project.

Define the purpose of your design system

It doesn’t matter if you already started with your design system or if your planning to have one. The first thing you need to do is to identify the purpose of your design system! This is not only important for the person or company which is paying for it. It’s important for the designers to know why they doing this and…