Your Design System can change your business (for the better)
A few years ago, we encountered a brand where the designers and their suppliers were struggling significantly with their applications due to the disarray in the company's Design System. They told us that their graphic elements were not centralized, that each business area designed according to its own preferences, and that when a new partner joined the firm to expand the business to another region, they ended up accidentally creating another brand due to how different their art was.
Although this situation is becoming more common in many ventures with little planning, the reality is that it also happens to big brands. That's why today we want to tell you how important it is to have your Design System organized and updated, an action that seems small, but believe us, in the future it will be crucial for your business to grow.
First of all, we must remember what the Design System. Despite the existence of several definitions, the general understanding is that it is the collection of all graphic elements that constitute your identity and communication. It usually consists of a “library” where you keep all the components of User Interface, such as buttons, shapes, icons, typography, and color palettes, and a style guide in which you establish the uses of these elements under different formats, such as photographs and videos, and different channels, such as print, digital posts, or promotional materials.
In the beginning, the goal of a Design System is to guarantee the visual and functional consistency of your brand. That is, by defining a set of standardized graphic components, you manage to create unified experiences that increase your brand's reciprocity levels with your audience. Why does this happen?
Imagine that every month you changed the buttons and base colors of your website, your users would feel confused and frustrated at the same time, as their learning curve with your product would have to restart with each change. Therefore, if you use and respect your Design System, you are also helping your user, encouraging people to become familiar with your brand and identify you faster in the market.
It is precisely in this example that we see another of the reasons why it pays to keep your Design System organized and up-to-date: communication between areas. In this case, between designers and developers. With a correct Design System, designers can concentrate on creating user-centered experiences, while developers can leverage reusable components and assets to bring these designs to life.
Finally, as we mentioned at the beginning, your Design System can be crucial for your future, because as the renowned consultant points out Nielsen Norman Group, to scale your business, you need a good Design System. We explain why.
Design Systems provide a framework that promotes efficiency and scalability within organizations. With a centralized library of reusable components, designers can quickly create new proposals or applications, saving time and effort.
Furthermore, as your brand grows and expands its product offerings, your Design System ensures that new features can be easily integrated into the system, providing a uniform experience across the entire ecosystem. This scalability eliminates the risk of fragmentation and maintains a unified user experience, regardless of the device or platform used.
It is for all these reasons that your Design System is an essential tool for your brand.
Having it centralized and updated helps you create consistent and scalable experiences. You'll see that as digital innovation doesn't slow down, your brand will be better prepared to face any situation that comes. Finally, uncertainty is inevitable; suffering it is not, that's what the Design System is for.
If you want to know more about Design Systems, visit the examples at MailChimp and the NASA, send us a message, in Gerund We will be happy to work on yours.
