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Web Design System

Protect and maintain your website design intent with a robust web design system

After you have invested in a new web portal or app, you want to ensure the design is well maintained and new features are added in line with best design practices. Our web design system is a critical component and empowers designers and dev teams to stay on top of the look-and-feel, code, and other critical aspects that are part of the experience.

DESIGNS CAPTURED
  • Maintain your design consistency and tone over the long term
  • Ensure that all contributors stay on-brand and on-message
  • Enable design, content, and development standards for your designers
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HOW WE DO IT

  1. 1

    Collaborate with your web team to create a place for designers and your partners that guides best design of the web, associated software code, design patterns, brand, and other key elements.

  2. 2

    Onging support of your best in class design patterns for both design and engineering teams that drive the best use of user experience elements, such as buttons, labels, tables, fields, icons, and other visual assets.

  3. 3

    Set up the design system environment as a training platform for new team members and outside partners to make sure a solid set of design system patterns are applied effectively by web designers, developers, and content designers.

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WHAT YOU GET

By capturing your web designs in a design system, you drive continuity and consistency for your web designs in the long term. You'll get:

  • Knowledge transfer of best in class web designs to continuously empower your design, dev and content teams
  • Professionally developed and custom branded design system that you and your designers will take pride in
  • Long-term excellence and consistency in the experience that your website delivers
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Our foundation
Experience thinking perspective

Experience Thinking underpins every project we undertake. It recognizes users and stakeholders as critical contributors to the design cycle. The result is powerful insights and intuitive design solutions that meet real users' and customers' needs.

Have web design system questions?

Check out our Q&As. If you don't find the answer you're looking for, send us a message at contact@akendi.com.

What exactly is a web design system and why do we need one?

A web design system is your digital blueprint—a collection of reusable components, guidelines, and standards that ensure consistent user experiences across all digital touchpoints. Every organization needs one to maintain design integrity as teams grow and products evolve. Our Experience Thinking approach ensures your design system connects brand, content, product, and service experiences seamlessly.

Tip: Start by auditing your current digital properties to identify inconsistencies that a design system could resolve.

How does a design system differ from a style guide or brand guidelines?

While style guides focus on visual elements and brand guidelines cover messaging, a design system is a living ecosystem that includes code, components, patterns, and principles. At Akendi, we've seen how design systems bridge the gap between brand vision and actual user interactions, creating cohesive experiences that users can navigate intuitively.

Tip: Think of your style guide as the foundation and your design system as the complete house—structure, functionality, and lived experience combined.

What are the core components every design system should include?

Essential components include typography, color palettes, spacing systems, UI elements (buttons, forms, navigation), interaction patterns, and code documentation. Based on our Experience Thinking framework, each component should support consistent brand expression while enabling smooth content flow and intuitive product interactions.

Tip: Prioritize components your team uses most frequently—buttons, forms, and navigation typically deliver the highest immediate impact.

How do we know if our organization is ready for a design system?

You're ready when you have multiple digital touchpoints, inconsistent user experiences, or growing design and development teams. We've guided organizations through this assessment by examining their experience lifecycle—from customer awareness through ongoing service interactions. Signs include developers recreating similar components and users experiencing different interfaces across your products.

Tip: Document three specific examples where users encounter inconsistent experiences across your digital properties.

What business problems does a design system actually solve?

Design systems eliminate inefficiencies, reduce development time, improve user experience consistency, and enable faster iteration. Our clients report significant time savings in development cycles and improved user satisfaction scores. The connected experience approach means changes propagate systematically, reducing the risk of broken user journeys.

Tip: Calculate current time spent recreating existing components—this becomes your baseline for measuring design system ROI.

How does a design system improve user experience consistency?

Consistency reduces cognitive load, making your products easier to learn and use. When users encounter familiar patterns across different sections or products, they can focus on their tasks rather than relearning interfaces. Our Experience Thinking methodology ensures consistency extends beyond visual elements to include interaction patterns and content structure.

Tip: Test user recognition by showing interface elements from different parts of your product—users should immediately identify them as belonging to the same system.

What makes some design systems succeed while others fail?

Successful systems have strong governance, regular maintenance, and genuine adoption by teams. Failed systems often lack clear ownership or try to solve too many problems at once. At Akendi, we've learned that design systems must evolve with user needs while maintaining their foundational principles—balancing stability with flexibility.

Tip: Identify one person who will champion your design system daily—without dedicated ownership, even the best systems become abandoned documentation.

How do we determine the scope and priorities for our design system project?

Start by mapping your current experience touchpoints and identifying the biggest pain points for both users and teams. We use our Experience Thinking framework to examine how design inconsistencies affect brand perception, content effectiveness, product usability, and service delivery. This holistic view reveals which components will deliver the most impact.

Tip: Survey your development team about which components they rebuild most often—these should be your first design system priorities.

What stakeholders should be involved in planning our design system?

Include representatives from design, development, product management, marketing, and customer support. Each perspective contributes essential insights about user needs and technical constraints. Our collaborative approach ensures the system serves actual workflows rather than theoretical ideals, creating buy-in across teams.

Tip: Hold individual stakeholder interviews before group meetings to understand each team's specific needs and concerns.

How do we conduct an effective design audit before building our system?

Catalog all existing UI elements, patterns, and interactions across your digital properties. Document inconsistencies, redundancies, and gaps in your current approach. We examine not just visual elements but how they support the complete user journey—from first impression through ongoing engagement and support interactions.

Tip: Create a visual inventory by taking screenshots of every unique UI element—seeing duplicates side-by-side makes the need for systematization obvious.

What timeline should we expect for design system development?

Initial system development typically takes 3-6 months, depending on scope and team size. However, a design system is never truly 'finished'—it evolves with your products and user needs. We structure projects in phases, delivering usable components early while building toward the complete system vision.

Tip: Plan for 70% of your time on initial development and 30% on documentation, governance, and adoption planning.

How do we choose the right technology stack for our design system?

Select technologies that align with your development team's skills and your product requirements. Consider factors like component library frameworks, design tool integrations, and documentation platforms. Our Experience Thinking approach ensures technical decisions support seamless experiences across all touchpoints, not just individual products.

Tip: Prototype one component in your proposed technology stack before committing—this reveals integration challenges early.

Should we build our design system in-house or partner with specialists?

The decision depends on your team's expertise, timeline, and long-term maintenance capacity. At Akendi, we often recommend a partnership approach—we establish the foundation and best practices while your team develops ongoing expertise. This ensures sustainability while accelerating initial development.

Tip: Assess your team's current design system knowledge honestly—building expertise takes time, and launching late is often more costly than partnering initially.

How do we set realistic goals and success metrics for our design system?

Define metrics that align with your business objectives—development velocity, design consistency scores, user satisfaction ratings, and maintenance overhead. We've learned that successful systems balance multiple outcomes: faster development, better user experiences, and reduced technical debt. Set both quantitative targets and qualitative experience goals.

Tip: Baseline your current metrics before launching the design system—you can't measure improvement without knowing your starting point.

How do we define our design system's visual foundation and principles?

Start with your brand values and translate them into visual principles that guide component design. Typography, color, spacing, and interaction patterns should reflect your brand personality while supporting usability. Our Experience Thinking methodology ensures these foundations create cohesive experiences across brand communications, content presentation, product interfaces, and service interactions.

Tip: Test your visual principles with actual content from your products—principles that work in isolation often fail with real data.

What's the best approach to creating reusable UI components?

Design components to be flexible yet consistent, with clear parameters for customization. Each component should solve a specific user need while maintaining visual cohesion. We structure components hierarchically—basic elements combine into patterns, which combine into templates—ensuring systematic reusability across different contexts.

Tip: Create three variations of each component during design—this forces you to build flexibility into the system from the start.

How do we handle responsive design patterns within our design system?

Build responsiveness into your foundational elements—spacing scales, typography systems, and component behaviors. Each component should adapt gracefully across devices while maintaining its core functionality and brand expression. Consider how content flows and interactions change across screen sizes, not just visual adjustments.

Tip: Define your responsive breakpoints based on your actual content and user data, not industry standards—your users' devices matter more than generic best practices.

What role does accessibility play in design system component creation?

Accessibility should be built into every component from the start, not added later. This includes proper contrast ratios, keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and clear focus states. Our design principles emphasize supporting all users' capabilities, ensuring your system creates inclusive experiences across all touchpoints.

Tip: Test each component with a screen reader and keyboard-only navigation during development—fixing accessibility issues later is exponentially more expensive.

How do we create effective documentation for our design components?

Document not just how components look, but when and why to use them. Include usage guidelines, code examples, accessibility considerations, and interaction specifications. Effective documentation serves both designers choosing components and developers implementing them, bridging the gap between design intent and user experience.

Tip: Include 'do' and 'don't' examples for each component—showing incorrect usage prevents common implementation mistakes.

How do we balance consistency with the need for unique designs?

Create systematic flexibility—components that can be configured for different contexts while maintaining core consistency. Establish clear guidelines for when customization is appropriate and when consistency takes priority. The goal is coherent experiences that feel unified but not monotonous.

Tip: Define three levels of flexibility for each component: strict (never change), configurable (approved variations), and open (customize with guidelines).

What's the best way to organize and categorize design system components?

Organize components by user mental models and common usage patterns, not technical implementation. Group related elements together and provide clear navigation paths. Consider how different team members will search for components—designers think differently than developers, and both perspectives matter for adoption.

Tip: Test your organization system with actual team members—ask them to find components for specific tasks without guidance.

What's the most effective process for implementing our design system across existing products?

Implement gradually through a strategic rollout plan, starting with high-impact, low-risk components. Our Experience Thinking approach ensures changes improve the complete user journey, not just individual interface elements. We prioritize implementations that strengthen the connection between brand promise and actual user experience.

Tip: Start with components that appear most frequently across your products—small changes with high visibility create momentum for larger implementations.

How do we integrate our design system with existing development workflows?

Align the design system with your current development tools, version control processes, and deployment pipelines. Success requires seamless integration, not workflow disruption. We work with teams to identify integration points where the design system enhances rather than complicates existing processes.

Tip: Map your current development workflow visually before introducing the design system—identify specific points where components will be selected, customized, and implemented.

What quality assurance processes ensure consistent implementation?

Establish review processes that check both visual consistency and functional behavior. QA should verify that implementations match design specifications and maintain the intended user experience. This includes cross-browser testing, accessibility validation, and performance verification for each component.

Tip: Create automated visual regression tests for your most critical components—these catch consistency issues before users do.

How do we handle version control and updates for our design system?

Treat your design system like any software product with proper versioning, release notes, and migration guides. Changes should be communicated clearly with impact assessments and implementation timelines. Consider both backward compatibility and the need for system evolution as user needs change.

Tip: Use semantic versioning (major.minor.patch) to communicate the scope of changes—teams can quickly assess whether updates require immediate action.

What's the best approach to training teams on design system usage?

Provide role-specific training that addresses actual workflow scenarios. Designers need guidance on component selection and customization, while developers need implementation details and code examples. Create practical exercises using real project scenarios rather than abstract tutorials.

Tip: Record your training sessions and create searchable video libraries—teams will reference these repeatedly as they encounter new implementation scenarios.

How do we measure and ensure successful adoption across teams?

Track usage metrics, implementation consistency, and team feedback to gauge adoption success. Monitor both quantitative measures (component usage rates, development velocity) and qualitative feedback (team satisfaction, ease of use). Regular check-ins help identify adoption barriers before they become systemic problems.

Tip: Create adoption dashboards that show component usage across projects—healthy adoption should show consistent growth and broad distribution.

What common implementation challenges should we prepare for?

Expect resistance to change, technical integration challenges, and the need for ongoing education. Teams may initially perceive design systems as constraints rather than enablers. Our experience shows that early wins and clear communication about benefits help overcome natural resistance to new processes.

Tip: Identify early adopters within each team who can become internal champions—peer advocacy is more effective than management mandates.

How do we establish effective governance for our design system?

Create a governance structure that balances system integrity with team autonomy. This includes clear decision-making processes, contribution guidelines, and conflict resolution procedures. Effective governance ensures the system evolves thoughtfully while maintaining the coherent experience that users expect across all touchpoints.

Tip: Start with lightweight governance and add structure as needed—over-governing early can stifle adoption and innovation.

What roles and responsibilities are needed for ongoing design system success?

Key roles include system maintainers, component contributors, and adoption advocates across different teams. Each role has specific responsibilities for system health, but everyone shares accountability for user experience outcomes. Clear role definition prevents important tasks from falling through gaps.

Tip: Create role descriptions that focus on outcomes rather than activities—this helps people understand how their work contributes to better user experiences.

How do we facilitate collaboration between design and development teams?

Establish shared understanding through common tools, consistent terminology, and regular communication. Our Experience Thinking approach emphasizes how design and development decisions impact the complete user journey. Both teams need to understand how their choices affect brand perception, content effectiveness, and service delivery.

Tip: Create shared documentation that speaks to both audiences—use visual examples with code snippets and explain design decisions with technical implications.

What's the best way to handle contributions and updates from multiple teams?

Implement contribution processes that encourage participation while maintaining system quality. This includes proposal templates, review procedures, and testing requirements. Successful systems balance openness with oversight, ensuring contributions strengthen rather than fragment the user experience.

Tip: Create contribution templates that require contributors to explain how their proposal improves user experience—this filters out purely aesthetic changes.

How do we resolve conflicts between system consistency and team-specific needs?

Develop decision-making frameworks that prioritize user needs while considering business constraints. Not every team need requires a new component—often existing components can be configured or combined to meet specific requirements. Focus discussions on user outcomes rather than team preferences.

Tip: When teams request exceptions, ask them to document the user problem they're solving—this often reveals system gaps or exposes unnecessary customization requests.

How do we maintain design system momentum and engagement over time?

Keep the system relevant through regular updates, success story sharing, and community building. Celebrate implementations that improve user experiences and share metrics that demonstrate business impact. Momentum comes from proving ongoing value, not just initial enthusiasm.

Tip: Host monthly show-and-tell sessions where teams demonstrate how they've used design system components to solve user problems.

What communication strategies keep all stakeholders aligned on design system goals?

Maintain regular communication through newsletters, workshops, and progress reports that connect system activities to business outcomes. Different stakeholders care about different metrics—executives want business impact, teams want practical guidance, and users want better experiences.

Tip: Create stakeholder-specific communication formats—executive summaries focus on business outcomes while team updates emphasize practical implementation guidance.

How do we keep our design system current with evolving user needs and technology?

Establish regular review cycles that assess system performance against user feedback, technology changes, and business evolution. Our Experience Thinking framework helps identify when system updates are needed by examining how well current components support the complete experience lifecycle—from initial awareness through ongoing engagement.

Tip: Schedule quarterly reviews with user research data to identify experience gaps that might require new components or pattern updates.

What's the best approach to scaling our design system across multiple products or brands?

Build scalability into your system architecture from the start with foundational elements that can be customized for different contexts. Consider how brand expression, content requirements, and interaction patterns might vary while maintaining core usability principles. Successful scaling preserves user familiarity while allowing appropriate customization.

Tip: Create a brand customization layer that sits above your base components—this allows visual variation without rebuilding functional patterns.

How do we handle deprecating outdated components without breaking existing implementations?

Plan deprecation carefully with clear migration paths, timeline communication, and support for affected teams. Users shouldn't experience disruption during component transitions. Provide alternative components or upgrade paths that maintain the intended user experience while improving system consistency.

Tip: Create deprecation timelines that span at least two development cycles—this gives teams time to plan updates without rushing implementations.

What metrics help us understand design system health and usage patterns?

Track component adoption rates, consistency scores across products, development velocity changes, and user experience metrics. Healthy systems show growing adoption, improved consistency, and positive user feedback. Monitor both technical metrics and experience outcomes to understand true system impact.

Tip: Set up automated monitoring for component usage—manual tracking becomes impossible as your system grows and teams adopt components at different rates.

How do we prioritize new component requests and system enhancements?

Evaluate requests based on user impact, frequency of need, and alignment with system goals. Not every request deserves a new component—sometimes existing elements can be enhanced or combined. Use data about user behavior and team workflows to guide prioritization decisions.

Tip: Require requesters to demonstrate demand from multiple teams or use cases—this prevents one-off solutions from cluttering your system.

What's the role of user research in ongoing design system evolution?

User research provides crucial feedback about component effectiveness and identifies gaps in the current system. Regular usability testing reveals whether components support actual user goals and where improvements are needed. Research should guide evolution decisions rather than just validate existing choices.

Tip: Include design system components in regular user testing sessions—you'll discover usability issues and optimization opportunities that pure component testing might miss.

How do we balance system stability with the need for innovation and improvement?

Create structured processes for evaluating and implementing changes that maintain user experience continuity while enabling system growth. Innovation should enhance user outcomes, not just introduce novel approaches. Balance comes from understanding which elements require stability and which can evolve more freely.

Tip: Categorize your components by stability requirements—foundational elements need more rigorous change management than experimental or contextual components.

How do we measure the return on investment for our design system project?

Calculate ROI through development time savings, reduced design debt, improved user satisfaction, and decreased maintenance costs. Track both direct savings (faster development cycles) and indirect benefits (improved brand consistency, better user experiences). Our clients typically see positive ROI within 12-18 months of implementation.

Tip: Establish baseline metrics before implementation—measure current development time, design inconsistencies, and user satisfaction scores to demonstrate improvement.

What business outcomes can we expect from implementing a design system?

Expect improved development velocity, better user experience consistency, reduced technical debt, and stronger brand cohesion. Our Experience Thinking approach ensures these improvements connect across all touchpoints—better brand experiences lead to improved content engagement, which supports product adoption and service satisfaction.

Tip: Set both short-term efficiency goals and long-term experience goals—teams need quick wins while building toward transformational outcomes.

How does a design system improve our ability to scale and grow?

Design systems provide the foundation for consistent experiences as you add products, features, or team members. New team members can contribute more quickly using existing patterns, and new products inherit established usability principles. Scaling becomes systematic rather than chaotic.

Tip: Document decision rationales within your system—new team members need to understand not just what to use, but why these patterns were chosen.

What competitive advantages does a design system provide?

Strong design systems enable faster time-to-market, more consistent user experiences, and better resource allocation. While competitors rebuild similar components, your team focuses on innovation and user value. Consistency also strengthens brand recognition and user trust across touchpoints.

Tip: Audit competitor experiences for consistency—highlighting their fragmented approaches helps stakeholders understand your systematic advantage.

How do we communicate design system value to executives and stakeholders?

Frame design system benefits in business terms—faster development, reduced costs, improved user satisfaction, and brand consistency. Use concrete examples and metrics rather than design theory. Show how systematic approaches support business goals like growth, efficiency, and competitive differentiation.

Tip: Create before-and-after comparisons showing user interface consistency improvements—visual proof is more compelling than abstract explanations.

What role does a design system play in reducing technical debt?

Design systems prevent accumulation of inconsistent components and redundant code while providing migration paths for existing technical debt. Each standardized component eliminates multiple custom implementations, reducing maintenance burden and improving code quality over time.

Tip: Calculate the current cost of maintaining duplicate components across your products—this number often justifies design system investment immediately.

How do design systems impact user satisfaction and business metrics?

Consistent, well-designed experiences reduce user confusion, improve task completion rates, and increase satisfaction scores. Better experiences translate to improved conversion rates, reduced support costs, and higher customer retention. The systematic approach ensures improvements propagate across all user touchpoints.

Tip: Correlate user experience improvements with business metrics like conversion rates or support ticket volume—this demonstrates direct business impact beyond design quality.

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