Design That Scales
Creating a Sustainable Design System Practice
After years of building the same interface elements, some designers and developers get wise and try to create reusable, common solutions to help everyone stop reinventing the wheel every time. Most fail. In Design That Scales, design systems expert Dan Mall draws on his extensive experience helping some of the world’s most recognizable brands create design practices that are truly sustainable and successful.
Who Should Read This Book?
People who are building and maintaining design systems, large or small. Designers, engineers, and product managers who are in search of a more efficient way to work. Leaders and executives who want to effect change but aren’t sure how to do it. People who have designed web forms and tables, but don’t know what’s next.
Takeaways
- A design system is crucial for any organization managing two or more digital products. Learn how to create, manage, and sustain a successful design system.
- See how the ecosystem of a design system works in order to understand the context for success.
- Figure out where the people involved in a design system fit and how they can best collaborate.
- Learn the metrics for success within a design system and how to measure them.
- Determine the best techniques for marketing your design system to stakeholders.
- Learn what guidance and relationships are crucial for a design system to succeed.
- See the end-of-chapter questions that highlight how to guide your design system to a profitable outcome.
After years of building the same interface elements, some designers and developers get wise and try to create reusable, common solutions to help everyone stop reinventing the wheel every time. Most fail. In Design That Scales, design systems expert Dan Mall draws on his extensive experience helping some of the world’s most recognizable brands create design practices that are truly sustainable and successful.
Who Should Read This Book?
People who are building and maintaining design systems, large or small. Designers, engineers, and product managers who are in search of a more efficient way to work. Leaders and executives who want to effect change but aren’t sure how to do it. People who have designed web forms and tables, but don’t know what’s next.
Takeaways
- A design system is crucial for any organization managing two or more digital products. Learn how to create, manage, and sustain a successful design system.
- See how the ecosystem of a design system works in order to understand the context for success.
- Figure out where the people involved in a design system fit and how they can best collaborate.
- Learn the metrics for success within a design system and how to measure them.
- Determine the best techniques for marketing your design system to stakeholders.
- Learn what guidance and relationships are crucial for a design system to succeed.
- See the end-of-chapter questions that highlight how to guide your design system to a profitable outcome.
Testimonials
Dan’s book is a game-changer for our approach to design systems, leading to significant changes at my company, making it a must-read for streamlining anyone’s complex design systems! This book equips you with everything you need for your next design system transformation.
—Nadine Sarraj, Product Designer, 365 Retail Markets
As a design system practitioner, this book will be my go-to resource for creating and managing design systems as they grow.
—Afyia Smith, Design Manager, Epic Games
Whether you’re a newcomer to design systems or an experienced practitioner, Design That Scales offers valuable insights not only on constructing a design system, but also on how to effectively evangelize it with users and evaluate its success. This book will undoubtedly become a trusted reference on your physical or digital shelf, offering guidance you’ll frequently revisit.
—Adekunle Oduye, Design System Consultant, Brooklyn, New York
Design That Scales is a highly valuable resource that provides practical steps and processes for designers, engineers, and product managers who want to enhance their design systems. Dan’s writing style simplifies even the most complex design system concepts, and it’s evident that the book is a culmination of years of experience and a desire to assist others in the design systems field. It’s a useful and detailed guide that any team can rely on, and Dan is the perfect person to lead you through all of the topics and steps.
—Joey Banks, Founder, Baseline Design
This book is filled with priceless details that prompt you to question your intuition and find new ways of thinking about process and measuring success with design systems. It’s like having Dan right there working with you at the elbows, sharing his experiences—the successes, the pitfalls, and the lessons learned along the way. Read and share widely!
—Derek Featherstone, VP of Accessibility and Inclusive Design, Salesforce
In Design That Scales, Dan distills his wealth of experience into a practical guide that will benefit both new and experienced design system practitioners.
— Mike Aparicio, Principal Design Systems Engineer, Turquoise Health
Dan cuts through the complicated realities of design systems and provides a pragmatic approach to establishing a valuable system practice in your organization.
— Kathryn Gonzalez, Previously Head of Design Infrastructure at DoorDash
The magic of Design That Scales is that it helps build the underlying habits and processes to ensure that a design system actually brings lasting value to an organization.
—Teddy Ni, Co-founder, Mirrorful
I had to keep stopping while reading this book to fire off messages for people to change course to avoid pitfalls or step on the accelerator. This is the playbook to demystify design systems and lead enterprise teams to create value now.
—Dylan Valade, Industry Leader, MACH Alliance, DAX 40 (PUMA), Fortune 100 (Abbott)
Table of Contents
Foreword by Meredith Black
Chapter 1: Why Design Systems?
Chapter 2: Design Systems Fundamentals
Chapter 3: The Parts of a Design System Product
Chapter 4: The Broken Business of “Buy-In”
Chapter 5: Pilots-The Best Way to Start and Sustain a Design System
Chapter 6: Governance and Contribution
Chapter 7: Roles and Responsibilities
Chapter 8: Process and Workflow for Design Systems
Chapter 9: Success Metrics for a Design System
Chapter 10: Evangelism Never Stops
Frequently Asked Questions
These common questions about online learning and design and their short answers are taken from Dan Mall’s book Design That Scales: Creating a Sustainable Design System Practice. You can find longer answers to each in your copy of the book, either printed or digital version.
What is a design system?
A design system can be many things: a visual language, a library of code snippets, a collection of artboards in a design tool, a way of doing design, and much more. In this book, I talk primarily about design systems as an organizational practice. Chapter 2, “Design System Fundamentals,” explores each of these kinds of design systems in more detail.
Sample Chapter
This is a sample chapter from Dan Mall’s book Design That Scales: Creating a Sustainable Design System Practice. 2023, Rosenfeld Media.
Chapter 1: Why Design Systems?
Think about all the Google products you used today. Maybe you checked your email using Gmail during some early part of your day. Perhaps you drove to your office or to an appointment using Google Maps to help with directions. You probably needed more info about something, and you looked it up on Google Search, perhaps using Google Chrome. Maybe you collaborated with a colleague on a Google Doc or Google Sheet. Maybe you watched a video on YouTube. Maybe you did all of that on an Android mobile device.
