The Design System Guide

Tiago Almeida is a design systems expert currently working at Volvo. With a background in industrial design, Tiago brings a unique perspective to bridging the gap between design and engineering. He is passionate about collaboration, accessibility, and using tools like Figma to craft scalable and efficient design systems. Tiago has a wealth of experience from managing component inventories to implementing design tokens, tackling challenges in naming conventions, and ensuring seamless onboarding for new designers. He’s also deeply invested in the future of design systems, exploring AI, automation, and community engagement to push the boundaries of the field. Takeaways: 🚗 How design systems drive efficiency at Volvo. 🤝 Collaboration between design and engineering is critical. 🎨 Mastering component naming and management in Figma. 🔑 Stakeholder buy-in can make or break a design system. 📐 Design tokens are essential for consistency across platforms. 🌍 The role of AI and automation in the future of design systems. 📚 Onboarding strategies for new designers. 🌟 The importance of community and mentorship in design. 🌍 Official Website 💎 My weekly design system newsletter 🔗 Follow me on LinkedIn

Phillip Lovelace is a Senior UX developer at Kajabi. He is passionate about design systems, user experience, web development, product design, and optimizing website performance. Highly enjoys crafting unique and forward-thinking user interfaces using well-structured markup and styling across desktop and mobile platforms. Phillip has over 20 years of experience in understanding and developing products from concept ideas into production and a strong background in search engine optimization (SEO) and website performance. Takeaways: Web Components Leadership played a key role Communication is key and it can be tough." Versioning strategy Naming things is hard Moving too fast can cause mistakes Preparation and maintenance for a rebrand. Understanding design tokens is vital for consistency Cross-functional teams, why Linting 🌍 Official Website: https://thedesignsystem.guide/interview-phillip-lovelace

Interview with Raquel Pereira, Lead UX designer (Design Systems) at Nokia 🔥 🙌 Takeaways: 🔹 Nokia is providing network solutions. 🔹 Maintaining consistency. 🔹 Collaboration between designers and developers 🔹 Documentation and communication are key challenges 🔹 Prioritizing components, organizing design files 🔹 Using design tokens vs variables 🔹 Figma Analytics 🔹 A design system is not just a local library 🔹 Understanding user needs 🔹 Complexity is easy; simplicity is the challenge. 🔹 You don't have to depend on tools. Useful tools mentioned: 🔗 Main Website: nokia.com 🔗 Friends of Figma Portugal: https://friends.figma.com/portugal/ 🔗 Supernova https://www.supernova.io/ 🔗 Storybook: storybook.js.org 🔗 Tokens Studio https://tokens.studio/ 🔗 Figma Analytics 🌎 Official website: https://thedesignsystem.guide/interview-raquel-pereira

Interview with Alexander Fandén, Agoda's Design System Lead. He leads a 17-member team supporting over 7,000 employees. We explored managing a mature design system and keeping it effective. Our discussion covered: 🔹 The need for internal education to promote the design system. 🔹 How seven years of work shaped Agoda's design system. 🔹 The importance of A/B testing for design changes. 🔹 Balancing standard components with the need for customization. 🔹 A special boot camp to onboard new designers. 🔹 The value of clear naming in design. 🔹 The role of intuition in design decisions. 🔹 What is active adoption? And so much more… Tools mentioned: 🔗 Airtable: Airtable.com 🔗 Gitbook 🌎 Official website: https://thedesignsystem.guide/intervi...