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ChecklistBuilding a simple design system: a checklist
A design system saves time and keeps work consistent. This checklist covers collecting components, documenting how to use them and keeping the system alive.
A design system saves time and keeps work consistent. At its simplest it is a shared library of the building blocks your digital products are made from, such as buttons, form fields, cards and navigation, together with guidance on how to use them. Designers stop redrawing the same button, developers stop rebuilding it, and customers get an experience that feels like one product rather than several.
Many organisations put off a design system because they picture the large, public systems run by major technology companies. You do not need anything on that scale. A modest system covering twenty or thirty components, maintained by a part-time owner, will deliver most of the benefit. Use the checklist below to build one.
Before you start
Take an honest inventory. Screenshot every distinct version of a button, form field, card and heading across your website and apps. Most teams are surprised to find a dozen slightly different blue buttons. That collection is both your starting material and the best argument for why the system is needed.
- Agree which products the system will cover first: usually the main website and one app.
- Collect screenshots of existing components and group the duplicates.
- Confirm the brand colours, type and spacing the system will be built on.
- Decide where the system will live: a design tool library, a code library and a simple documentation site.
Collect the components
Buttons, forms, cards and navigation cover most of what a typical business website uses. Start there and resist adding anything that is only used once. For each component, settle on one version and define its variations, such as primary and secondary buttons, or cards with and without images.
- Foundations: colour palette, typography scale, spacing units, grid and icon set.
- Buttons: primary, secondary and text styles, with hover, focus and disabled states.
- Forms: text inputs, dropdowns, checkboxes, radio buttons, error and help messages.
- Cards and content blocks: the repeating units used on listing and landing pages.
- Navigation: header, footer, menus, breadcrumbs and pagination.
- Feedback: alerts, confirmations and loading states.
- Each component checked for colour contrast and keyboard use.
Document usage
Show when and how each is used. A component library without guidance is just a parts bin, and people will use the parts in inconsistent ways. Short, practical documentation is enough. Lead with a visual example and a sentence on when to use the component, then add the details.
- A one-line purpose for each component: when to use it, and when not to.
- Visual examples of correct use, and common mistakes to avoid.
- Content guidance: label length, capitalisation, tone of error messages.
- Accessibility notes: labels, focus order and screen reader behaviour.
- A link from each design component to its matching code component.
Keep design and code in step
The most common failure is a design library and a code library that slowly drift apart. Give each component the same name in both, and treat a change in one as incomplete until the other is updated.
Maintain it
Assign an owner and review regularly. A design system is a product with users, and like any product it decays without someone looking after it. The owner does not need to be full time. In a smaller organisation, a senior designer or front-end developer spending a few hours a week is often enough.
- A named owner who approves additions and changes.
- A simple way for teams to request new components or report problems.
- A review every quarter to remove unused components and merge near-duplicates.
- A short change log so teams know what has changed and why.
- A measure of adoption, such as the share of new screens built from system components.
Trade-offs to expect
A design system brings consistency at the cost of some freedom. Designers sometimes feel constrained, and there will be cases where a campaign page genuinely needs something new. Allow controlled exceptions, and if the same exception keeps appearing, add it to the system properly.
There is also an up-front cost. Agreeing one version of each component, building it properly in code and writing the guidance takes time that could have gone into new features. For a typical mid-sized digital team, expect the first version to take several weeks of part-time effort. The return comes later, as new pages are assembled from ready-made parts and fewer visual bugs reach customers.
Begin with the inventory this week. Pick the five components you found the most duplicates of, agree one version of each, and build them into both your design tool and your code. Once teams see the time saved on those five, extending the system becomes a much easier conversation.
Source: Intelliversal analysis.
