In this short dialogue, the speakers warn that receiving a design system solely as a Figma file is a red flag. They argue that a successful design system requires documented processes, a dedicated owner or team, and clear communication channels (such as Slack, office hours, and a point‑of‑contact) to keep the system maintained, answer questions, and coordinate between designers and developers. Without these supporting structures, a Figma library is merely a component collection, not a functional design system.
Chapters
If I just receive a design system file as a Figma file, that's kind of my first red flag. You should have a contact person. There should be some sort of process documented, even outside of Figma for the wider organization, to understand the design system. That's the first thing I look for, not just the components itself, but the whole ecosystem that keeps it afloat, make sure that it's fresh and that if I have any questions or if anyone on the team has any questions, there's a dedicated person for me to reach out to, contact, and yeah, just get a full understanding of how the, the whole system works.
Yeah, it's one of those things where if you only get a Figma library, you're like, well, you might not actually have a design system. We might just have a component library here.
Yeah. I think a, a dedicated design system team. Or at least one person dedicated to maintaining the design system is really critical to like its success. Someone who's able to kind of field questions, take in new requests, be able to communicate between the development team and the designers using the design system, any issues that are coming up with their components and, and how they're trying to use them within the screens that they're trying to solve. That's kind of the key for me of that collaboration piece, making sure that there's someone there to make sure that things are being communicated both ways. And it can include dedicated Slack channels, making sure that they're being managed properly. Any changes that are coming from the design system are being communicated to the team or open office hours, places. Where folks can go and ask questions. Those are kind of the pieces that need to be in place to make sure that it's successful and being used properly.
Yeah, it's one of those things where at least the most success we've had is if everyone assumes somebody is doing it, that probably means nobody's doing it. So having somebody dedicated to kind of tackling that and making sure that all the things are happening in the correct ways, or at least there to facilitate that process. Seem to be more successful than sort of this abstract, who's doing this? I don't know, maybe it's Jeff.
