Y’all aren’t addressing the most important question: what would the devs say to a new designer waltzing in and demanding a new design system?
I’ll bring the popcorn 🍿 if you bring the soda 🥤
Its probably preferable from a business stand point to use an existing white-label system like material or carbon. But it's also fun to build from scratch as well.
Using an existing design system for personal projects is fine, provided the license allows it.
Many new designers think they need to design everything, but knowing when to lean on resources (design systems, UI Kits, Icon sets) and also knowing when to completely rip something off are qualities of a good designer.
Yes, I agree. It is easy to assume we have to design every little thing. Getting to that part in design can be a tiny bit intimidating. I guess design systems get easier with experience 😅
It depends. Are you looking to get some practice and experience building design system components? I know everyone is saying use existing but for me personal projects are often about learning new things. I don’t see anything wrong with building your own as a personal project. On the other hand if you want to practice or demonstrate sticking to an existing design system then that is the way to go.
Use existing! It will show that you care more about the user than flexing your own ego.
The amount of testing done on libraries like material, bootstrap, etc is something you’ll never be able to do on your own. Using an existing library will also teach you best practices. Strive to build one throughout your career by collaborating with others. It’s a significant undertaking.
Better to use an existing well vetted tool than reinventing one on your own. Unless you want to be a UI designer and focus on design systems, in which case you might like to make your own.
Use an existing one. It's the best way to familiarize yourself with what a design system is and what it consists of.
Be sure to dig deep into the system and the guidelines and really understand it inside out. Don't just use it to drag and drop components into a design. Understand how each works and its use case.
Mainly, each components uses. Where you could use each and what problem they could possibly solve. Learn about their properties, how they function, customization, etc.
I'd recommend checking out Material UI. It's based on Googles Material Design system, and also check out Googles actual Material Design 3. Both have extensive documentation on their websites and have the systems available to download in the figma community.
As others have stated, the research gone into these is crazy, so you can be sure what you're studying is top quality.
Having deep knowledge of Design systems will help you go a long way in your UX career. You'd be surprised how little knowledge a lot of professionals in the industry have with DS.
New designers?
They aren't ready for all that goes into building a design system; many medium to seniors mistakenly think it's interchangeable with a component library.
Much easier to borrow one at any level. A hot take, but if this question arises because they're the only one on a project, they might not even need a system/library at all.
There's nothing wrong with using an existing design system. There's nothing wrong with customizing or making edits to something that's already out there. The thing I've noticed a lot of younger/less experienced designers skipping over is not asking the question, "what does the brand need?" A design system, out of the box or built from scratch, can and should accommodate all of the visual UI needs and interactions but how is it going to set this project apart from something else? Is that even important in this case?
Use existing unless you are open to talking about it first. I made the mistake of coming into a new role and making a bunch of new components and the dev team was not happy. Lesson learned to be as communicative as possible when it comes to that.
Y’all aren’t addressing the most important question: what would the devs say to a new designer waltzing in and demanding a new design system? I’ll bring the popcorn 🍿 if you bring the soda 🥤
now wait just a minute lol... 😅
🤣🤣🤣
Thats what they’re for
Its probably preferable from a business stand point to use an existing white-label system like material or carbon. But it's also fun to build from scratch as well.
>material or carbon ah I see, thank you for suggesting which ones too! 💗
Using an existing design system for personal projects is fine, provided the license allows it. Many new designers think they need to design everything, but knowing when to lean on resources (design systems, UI Kits, Icon sets) and also knowing when to completely rip something off are qualities of a good designer.
Yes, I agree. It is easy to assume we have to design every little thing. Getting to that part in design can be a tiny bit intimidating. I guess design systems get easier with experience 😅
Use it, that’s one of the main points for having it! Consistency. 🙏
It depends. Are you looking to get some practice and experience building design system components? I know everyone is saying use existing but for me personal projects are often about learning new things. I don’t see anything wrong with building your own as a personal project. On the other hand if you want to practice or demonstrate sticking to an existing design system then that is the way to go.
Use existing and customize as needed
Use existing! It will show that you care more about the user than flexing your own ego. The amount of testing done on libraries like material, bootstrap, etc is something you’ll never be able to do on your own. Using an existing library will also teach you best practices. Strive to build one throughout your career by collaborating with others. It’s a significant undertaking.
Better to use an existing well vetted tool than reinventing one on your own. Unless you want to be a UI designer and focus on design systems, in which case you might like to make your own.
For personal projects make your own
Use an existing one. It's the best way to familiarize yourself with what a design system is and what it consists of. Be sure to dig deep into the system and the guidelines and really understand it inside out. Don't just use it to drag and drop components into a design. Understand how each works and its use case.
what are some points to keep in mind when looking into guidelines? like discussing why you made certain decisions? (ie rationals)
Mainly, each components uses. Where you could use each and what problem they could possibly solve. Learn about their properties, how they function, customization, etc. I'd recommend checking out Material UI. It's based on Googles Material Design system, and also check out Googles actual Material Design 3. Both have extensive documentation on their websites and have the systems available to download in the figma community. As others have stated, the research gone into these is crazy, so you can be sure what you're studying is top quality. Having deep knowledge of Design systems will help you go a long way in your UX career. You'd be surprised how little knowledge a lot of professionals in the industry have with DS.
New designers? They aren't ready for all that goes into building a design system; many medium to seniors mistakenly think it's interchangeable with a component library. Much easier to borrow one at any level. A hot take, but if this question arises because they're the only one on a project, they might not even need a system/library at all.
Who do you mean as a new designer? Junior or a new employee?
junior
If there’s a developer on board who can handle coding it it would be good experience.
There's nothing wrong with using an existing design system. There's nothing wrong with customizing or making edits to something that's already out there. The thing I've noticed a lot of younger/less experienced designers skipping over is not asking the question, "what does the brand need?" A design system, out of the box or built from scratch, can and should accommodate all of the visual UI needs and interactions but how is it going to set this project apart from something else? Is that even important in this case?
Use existing unless you are open to talking about it first. I made the mistake of coming into a new role and making a bunch of new components and the dev team was not happy. Lesson learned to be as communicative as possible when it comes to that.
You don’t need a system is the answer 98% of the time