Michela Frecchiami
@mic_design
Michela Frecchiami
Articulating Design Decisions
youtu.bePeople on the outside will criticize things they have a limited view of. But if you give people the chance to be part of the solution, they will either take you up on it or they will see how their suggestion impacts everyone else.
For whatever action scares you (and isn’t life-threatening), remember this surefire way to eliminate the fear: do it 100 times.
Julie Zhuo
Ethics for Designers — The toolkit
ethicsfordesigners.com
The most general misconception I often see at scale is that, once a design system is established, every product must then use it. “100% adoption” is the goal, meaning design system work isn’t done until every product at the organization has been migrated to use the design system.
This is nonsense.
A design system prioritization matrix
Reading time: around 3 minutes
Design systems have massive impact at scale, especially with organizations that manage dozens, hundreds, or thousands of digital products. But that scale brings its own set of problems.
The most general misconception I often see at scale is that, once a design system is established, every product must then use it. “100% adoption” is the goal, meaning design system work isn’t done until every product at the organization has been migrated to use the design system.
This is nonsense.
For starters, migrating just the codebase of hundreds or thousands of digital products would take years.
The solution is a more pragmatic point of view: only some of an organization’s products should use the design system.
Which begs the question: which products should use the design system and which ones shouldn’t?
This is a question I’ve spent time on with every single organization I’ve consulted with.
A design system prioritization matrix
Luckily, I found a handy guide a few years ago that I use every time:
This is a super useful matrix by design system consultant Nathan Curtis entitled “Must/Should/Could a Product Adopt a System?” The two axes are “Product Stage” and “Upcoming Investment,” a smart combination that juxtaposes two of the most important factors of valuable design system work.
The green “Must” and red “Avoid“ areas make obvious what many teams struggle with without a matrix like this to help them:
New products with more upcoming investment compared to the prior period must use the design system. Launching a new flagship website or app that’s gonna get a lot of executive and/or marketing attention? Use the design system for sure.
Legacy products with no upcoming investment compared to the prior period should avoid using the design system. That old Lotus Notes-based application approaching end-of-life in 2 years? Don’t bother migrating that over.
The “Should“ and “Could” areas get trickier, so spend more time here. An emerging product with less upcoming investment? Hmm. It should probably use the design system, but it’s worth a few conversations to make sure. An established product with the same investment as last quarter? It could use the design system, but it’s worth considering if there are higher priority places to spend your time.
Can you be creative just by creating? – Anton Sten – Product Designer
antonsten.com
While concepting, focus on… concepts
There’s a time and place for different discussions. Oftentimes, in the absence of strategic arguments, peers might raise tactical commentary when reviewing conceptual work (the classic “have you thought about the empty state” comment). But while it's tempting to address every potential scenario immediately,
... See moreA talented person can quickly become mediocre when you force them to be someone they aren’t.
“One of the superpowers a designer has is to envision a world that doesn’t yet exist and lay out the steps to get there and make it a reality.
There’s a piece of that that means some designers never really settle for accepting reality as it is, and they do what they can to influence and shape reality into one that’s closer to what they like.”
Dan
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