The Design System Mindset: How To Apply Systemic Practices To Balance Efficiency And Flexibility

A Design System is much more than a set of reusable components. It’s a way of thinking that helps us, as designers, create consistent and scalable solutions—even when we’re not directly involved in building a system. In this article, I’ll explore how we can apply this approach to balance efficiency and flexibility in our day-to-day work.

Understanding The Environment Before Applying The Design System Mindset

Before applying Design System principles, it’s essential to understand the context we’re working in. Key factors include:

• Team size and composition: Smaller teams may require more flexible solutions, while larger teams tend to benefit more from standardization.

• Company goals: Fast-growing businesses need scalability, while early-stage startups often require more experimentation.

• Budget and resources: Robust design systems demand investment. In some scenarios, lightweight guidelines may be more realistic.

Design System Maturity: What Exists and What’s Worth Building

Not every team or project has a fully established Design System, and that directly impacts how we work.

• When we, as designers, join a project with a consolidated system, our focus is often on ensuring adherence to the system and contributing to improvements without breaking existing patterns.

• Conversely, in design systems still on their early stages, designers we have the opportunity to refine guidelines and documentation, promoting best practices from the start.

But what if a design system doesn’t exist at all, or there's no room to build one?  

1. Still, even basic guidelines, like color and font tokens can bring structure and ease future implementations.

2. We can still apply principles like visual consistency, reusable components, and collaborative documentation to enhance the team’s workflow.

The Minimum Viable Design System concept is useful for teams without a formal system – starting with simple guidelines and evolving based on real needs is often more effective than launching a full system all at once.

Efficiency and Flexibility: Finding the Right Balance

Following a design system doesn’t mean giving up creativity. The challenge is finding the balance between consistency and adaptability.

1. First, understand the “why” behind the guidelines. When we know the reasoning behind the rules, it becomes easier to know when and how to adapt them.

2. Then, review the components, the needs, and if necessary, create controlled variations. If a component doesn’t quite fit, we can propose changes that make sense – and that could be added to the system. But always think about scalability and maintainability. Ask yourself questions like:  

• “Is creating a new component the only way to solve this?”

• “Could this new variation be useful in future scenarios?”

• “Is this component built in a way that allows for future updates?”

Be proactive in collaboration!

I often say, we are the ones most responsible for implementing and driving the system, but the design system doesn’t belong only to us designers.

Working together with developers, PMs, and other designers ensures that our solutions are feasible and well-executed. Integration is a key part of the design system mindset – which brings us to the next point.

Governance: Embedding the Design System Culture Across Teams

For the Design System mindset to become second nature – not just for designers but for everyone involved – teams must be aligned. To achieve this, adopting strong governance strategies is essential. Here are some that have worked for me:

• Bridge communication between designers and developers: Clear documentation, shared language, and the use of design tokens help ensure accurate implementation.  

• Promote ongoing education: From my experience, the concept of a design system isn’t always clear to “non-designers.” Internal workshops and regular collaborative meetings help everyone understand its value and feel involved.

• Encourage feedback and contributions: Everyone should feel comfortable suggesting improvements and helping the system evolve organically. A helpful initiative I’ve tried is a “suggestion box” where team members can anonymously share thoughts or ideas.

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Further reading: I recommend Nathan Curtis’ article Team Models for Scaling a Design System, to get a detailed view on how teams can be structured around Design Systems.

In Summary...

Applying the Design System mindset to our daily practice enhances our efficiency and collaboration—even in contexts without a formal system, small teams, or limited resources. By understanding the environment, evaluating the system’s maturity, and balancing consistency with flexibility, we’re able to deliver more cohesive and scalable solutions.

Further reading: Check out studies related to Fitts’s Law, for insights into how well-designed systems impact digital interactions, which highlight the role of efficiency in designing scalable patterns.

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