Design systems play a crucial role in building a unified, recognizable brand experience across products and platforms. By analyzing real-world examples from industry leaders, we can see how carefully designed components, clear documentation, and thoughtful organization enable these companies to create scalable and cohesive design frameworks. This article examines the design systems of companies like Google, IBM, and Airbnb to understand the strategies and features that contribute to their success.
1. Google’s Material Design System
Google’s Material Design System is one of the most widely recognized design systems, offering a comprehensive set of guidelines and resources for creating visually cohesive, user-friendly interfaces. Material Design provides a foundation for building UIs with consistent elements, interactions, and layouts, allowing designers to create beautiful and accessible applications.
Key Features:
- Visual Consistency: Material Design focuses on creating a unified look and feel with elements like colors, typography, and iconography that align with Google’s brand identity.
- Comprehensive Documentation: The system includes detailed documentation on components, patterns, and accessibility, making it easy for designers and developers to use.
- Customizability: Material Design allows for customization while retaining core design principles, making it adaptable across different brands and products.
Material Design has inspired countless design systems, setting a high standard for consistency, user-friendliness, and accessibility.
2. IBM’s Carbon Design System
IBM’s Carbon Design System provides a robust framework for building enterprise-level applications with a strong emphasis on accessibility, modularity, and scalability. Carbon serves as the foundation for IBM’s applications, supporting a consistent user experience across its extensive product lineup.
Key Features:
- Accessibility Focus: Carbon prioritizes accessible design by providing guidelines, tools, and testing resources to ensure that all components meet WCAG standards.
- Component Flexibility: Carbon’s modular component architecture allows teams to customize and extend components to fit specific use cases without sacrificing consistency.
- Extensive Documentation: The system includes documentation, tutorials, and code examples for developers and designers, making it easy to implement and maintain.
IBM’s commitment to accessibility and modularity has made Carbon an influential design system, particularly for complex, data-driven applications.
3. Airbnb’s Design Language System (DLS)
Airbnb’s Design Language System (DLS) emphasizes visual storytelling and a user-centered approach to design. DLS provides Airbnb’s team with a cohesive set of design principles, components, and patterns that reflect its unique brand identity and user experience goals.
Key Features:
- Brand Cohesion: DLS reflects Airbnb’s brand personality with a warm color palette, accessible typography, and a strong focus on visual storytelling.
- Design and Development Collaboration: DLS includes tools and resources for both designers and developers, fostering collaboration and ensuring that design intent is maintained across platforms.
- Component Variability: DLS components are designed to adapt to different contexts, allowing for a high degree of flexibility without compromising brand consistency.
Airbnb’s DLS is an excellent example of how a design system can capture brand essence and user-centered design while ensuring consistency across products.
4. Shopify’s Polaris Design System
Shopify’s Polaris Design System is tailored to meet the needs of e-commerce and merchant-facing applications, providing a user-friendly, consistent experience across Shopify’s ecosystem. Polaris includes components, patterns, and guidelines specifically designed for merchant experiences.
Key Features:
- Merchant-Centric Design: Polaris components and patterns are designed with merchants in mind, focusing on usability, simplicity, and accessibility.
- Guidelines for Content and Tone: Polaris includes guidelines on content style and tone, helping teams create clear, empathetic messaging that aligns with Shopify’s brand.
- Adaptable Components: Polaris components are flexible enough to work across different merchant contexts, ensuring a consistent experience that supports customization.
Shopify’s focus on merchant experience sets Polaris apart, demonstrating how design systems can cater to specific user needs while ensuring consistency.
5. Microsoft’s Fluent Design System
Microsoft’s Fluent Design System provides a flexible framework for building applications across platforms, with a focus on adaptable design and accessibility. Fluent is built to support Microsoft’s vast ecosystem, including Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products.
Key Features:
- Cross-Platform Consistency: Fluent components are designed to work seamlessly across platforms, including desktop, mobile, and web applications.
- Emphasis on Accessibility: Fluent’s guidelines include accessibility best practices, ensuring that components meet WCAG standards and provide a consistent experience for all users.
- Dynamic and Adaptable Components: Fluent’s components can adapt to different platforms and input methods, such as touch, mouse, and voice, supporting an inclusive user experience.
Fluent Design’s cross-platform flexibility and emphasis on accessibility make it a powerful example of a multi-platform design system.
6. Atlassian’s Atlassian Design System
Atlassian’s design system provides a comprehensive framework for building products that are user-friendly, consistent, and scalable. Atlassian’s components, guidelines, and best practices are tailored for enterprise collaboration tools, supporting both user experience and functional needs.
Key Features:
- Collaboration-Focused Components: Atlassian’s components are built for collaboration, providing features that support teamwork and shared workflows.
- Extensive Documentation and Guidelines: Atlassian includes detailed documentation, code snippets, and usage guidelines, making it easy for teams to adopt the design system.
- Accessible and Scalable: The system’s components are designed to scale across Atlassian’s suite of tools, ensuring a consistent and accessible experience.
Atlassian’s focus on collaboration and scalability demonstrates the importance of aligning a design system with product goals and user needs.
Key Takeaways from Leading Design Systems
Studying design systems from industry leaders reveals several common themes and best practices:
- Consistency and Flexibility: Leading design systems balance consistency with flexibility, allowing for brand alignment while supporting specific product needs.
- Accessibility as a Priority: Many design systems emphasize accessibility, ensuring that components meet industry standards and provide an inclusive user experience.
- Comprehensive Documentation: Clear, detailed documentation is a staple of successful design systems, providing a roadmap for designers and developers.
- User-Centric Approach: Each design system is tailored to the specific needs of its target audience, from enterprise users to merchants and general consumers.
Conclusion: Building an Effective and Scalable Design System
Real-world examples of design systems from companies like Google, IBM, and Airbnb offer valuable insights into building cohesive, scalable UI frameworks. These systems demonstrate the importance of consistency, flexibility, accessibility, and thorough documentation in creating a design system that meets the needs of both users and brands. By applying these best practices, teams can create a design system that supports efficient development, fosters collaboration, and delivers a seamless, brand-aligned user experience across products.