UX Foundations: Style Guides and Design Systems

Learn how to create a style guide and design system that agencies, contractors, and staff can use to create user experiences that fit your brand.

Introduction

• Setting the bar with style guides and design systems

1. What Are Style Guides and Design Systems?

• Communicating user experience standards
• More than just a couple of documents
• The design system
• The style guide
• Where to start

2. Style Guide Basics

• Why have a style guide?
• Who in a company uses a style guide?
• What about small companies?

3. What's in a Style Guide?

• Brand and company philosophy
• Defining your audience
• Personality and tone of voice
• Visual elements
• Links to resources

4. Creating Your Style Guide

• Check out your existing resources
• Get buy-in from relevant groups
• Start writing
• Promoting and enforcing the guide

5. Design System Basics

• Controlling interface chaos
• What a design system looks like
• Who is a design system for?

6. Components of a Design System

• Design philosophy
• Index of components
• Submission and commenting system
• The underlying process

7. Creating Your Design System

• Justifying the need
• Setting up a team to build your system
• Deciding on a platform
• Build, review, and release schedules
• Populating the system
• Socializing the idea
• Politics of adoption

Conclusion

• Next steps