Benefits of a Design System
Now that we’ve defined what a design system is I want to talk about its main benefits by splitting them into two equally important categories: Company and User.
To read these points, I recommend having in mind the comparison example of the FrankensTable from the previous article, where different product teams are required to update the same table multiple times manually VS having a single component from the design system that covers all the cases with automatic updates.
I will use the same example, keep in mind that these benefits apply to all the elements of the design system, not just the table component.
Benefits for the Company
There are a lot of benefits for companies to apply design systems which makes them a must even in the early stage. Short-term might not look like it, but in the long run, the cost of not having a DS can make an enourmous difference.
Consistency & Cohesion
All the design system elements are connected visually and functionally. This ensures they work together as a unified system inside the product and the company, especially when including multiple components and patterns.
All the use cases that require a table are managed by one single component with different variants that share the same interactions and styles.
Scalability
Components and patterns cover all the product requirements and are easy to update with new ones. This infrastructure increases the efficiency of updates and maintenance, helping the company and its products to grow, scale up, and pivot when necessary.
Having one component controlling all the use cases makes it easier to apply new requirements and features to the table and its variants.
Product Quality
Increases the overall quality of the entire product suite.
Thanks to documentation, guidelines, and communication, a design system reduces the possibility of design and development errors when building new features or products.
Similarly to the application of new features, having a table component also simplifies quality assurance processes and bug fixing.
Remarkable ROI
On average, a well-structured design system can give you 50% to 90% ROI thanks to the increase in efficiency and workflow optimization. Numbers get even higher over the years due to scalability, reusability, and delivery speed.
Product teams are not required to create or update the table. That's a lot of time saved that they can invest in the actual product features.
Delivery Speed
The time required to build new features generally decreases from 30% to 50% thanks to reusable components. Product teams are not required to build the same tables over and over again and can concentrate on higher product needs.
Having a table component ready to use makes it easy for product teams to just integrate it in their use case and focus on higher-level needs.
Communication
Using the same components and styles elevates collaboration and helps teams to be aligned, share knowledge, and negotiate with each other and the design system to set the product requirements. It improves communication, participation, and sharing, avoiding isolation and silos inside product delivery.
A design system establishes a common vocabulary across teams and departments, which is highly beneficial for facilitating conversations among designers and developers.
Tables can have different names, variants, and usages. A design system team will provide a consistent naming structure that improves communication.
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Branding
Having all the foundational elements in one place simplifies the integration and updates of the branding details inside the product. Colors, Typography, Motion, Iconography, and Voice and Tone, can be shared styles across marketing and product delivery.
A design system makes it easier to apply branding details to all the features that require a table, making the product consistent with the brand.
Benefits for the Users
Companies that use a design system to develop their products also benefit their users. Products become inclusive, intuitive, and reliable, the sense of quality increases, and it creates a palpable connection between product and branding.
Inclusion
Including accessibility rules, guidelines, and best practices in the design system helps build friendly products that every user will be able to interact with.
It not only helps with legal compliance but also advocates for an inclusive user experience.
The table component and all its variants will be accessible by default, this is an incredible benefit that is normally optional and overlooked by product teams.
Usability
A design system provides a minimum standard of functionalities and interactions and ensures that users can navigate through the different flows they need to achieve their goals.
It helps eliminate unnecessary friction for users.
The design system will make sure all the table variants are usable and have the required interactions to allow users to complete their tasks.
Learnability
Allow users to predict how the elements will behave. Thanks to the guidelines, all the product features share a common and consistent flow with repeatable patterns that increase the intuitiveness and affordance of the product. Users will learn faster how to use the different features.
When users find themselves in front of a new feature with a table component, they will know how to interact with it due to the other cases from the product.
Productivity
Design systems make interactions easier to understand and comprehend thanks to the inclusion of familiar patterns.
Users are generally more efficient and productive when executing their tasks.
Knowing how to use the table component makes users more efficient when interacting with the multiple variants.
Error Reduction
Scalable and reusable components with the communication set from the design system will reduce the possibility of inducing errors within the product.
Users will benefit from a noticeable error reduction and thus increase their satisfaction with the product.
A table with consistent variants and predictable interactions will reduce the chances for users to make mistakes.
Conclusion
As you can see, implementing a well-structured design system into the company workflows will bring so many benefits that it becomes one of the most valuable strategies regardless of the company size.
Next: Size and Tiers of a Design System
In the next article, I will talk about the size of design systems and how your team doesn't need to build the next Material Design or Apple Human Interface Guidelines to impact how the company works.
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