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> Most robust design systems I see run around 10-40k layers (with the record I've seen being 250k). All of that is insane, IMO, and points to the fact that mos
by erikpukinskis 4y ago
> Most robust design systems I see run around 10-40k layers (with the record I've seen being 250k).
All of that is insane, IMO, and points to the fact that most designers see Design Systems as a giant “skin” and not a set of ideas. This causes massive friction.
IMO this is where Figma fails, it treats Design Systems as a picture. A canvas. This is a relic of graphic design traditions (contact sheets.) Figma’s successor (whatever it ends up being) will embrace the fact that Design is Ideas not Pictures and Ideas are best represented in Code.
Maybe Penpot is onto something here. Although SVG is not the material of the web. HTML is, or maybe the frameworks that target the DOM.
UI Design in 2022 is like pre-modern architecture. Like architects whose designs don’t prescribe anything about the materials of construction.
- karaterobot 4y agoIt might be illustrative to actually build a design system for a production application and see how you'd improve the process and tool chain. I have to say most of what you're suggesting strikes me as incorrect.
- erikpukinskis 4y agoI work full time on Design Systems for production applications and have for many years. Check out https://interplayapp.com/ https://interplayapp.com/ for a different take on how design systems should be created for use in Figma. I think it’s telling that Figma can’t really do any of this natively and there’s a whole ecosystem of companies surrounding Figma trying to help it actually Do The Job. Zeroheight and Storybook/Chromatic being the other obvious examples.