Teams judge design systems by coverage: how many components, how complete the docs. I judge them by one question: did the system make this week’s feature faster to design and build?
A system that pays rent shows up in small ways. The new settings screen composed itself from existing pieces. The dark mode variant came free because the tokens were right. The developer never asked what hover state to use.
A system that does not pay rent also shows up in small ways. Every new screen spawns a new button variant. The Figma library and the code library drifted apart a quarter ago. Designers detach instances because it is faster than fighting them.
Build less, wire it deeper. Five components bound to real tokens beat forty components nobody trusts.
Available
Think there’s potential for us to work together?
Tell me what you’re building and where design is slowing you down. If there’s a fit, I’ll show you exactly how I can help.
Think there’s potential for us to work together? Tell me what you’re building and where design is slowing you down. If there’s a fit, I’ll show you exactly how I can help.
Brendan Ho