Examples of good design systems

• Mailchimp Design and Brand Identity (Patterns, Style Guide)

• IBM’s Carbon Design System

• Shopify’s Polaris

• Saleforce’s Lightning Design System

• Co-op design system

• Material Design

• https://etrade.design/

• https://rei.github.io/rei-cedar-docs/

• https://atlassian.design/

• https://ant.design/

• https://www.oracle.com/webfolder/ux/middleware/alta/index.html

• https://blocks.cbrebuild.com/

• https://canvas.hubspot.com/

• https://clarity.design/

• https://www.digital.nsw.gov.au/digital-design-system

• https://evergreen.segment.com/

• https://design-system.service.gov.uk/

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/gel

• https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/overview/themes/

• https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/fluentui#/

• https://design.firefox.com/photon/

• https://primer.style/

• https://protocol.mozilla.org/

• https://stackoverflow.design/

• https://spectrum.adobe.com/

• https://solid.buzzfeed.com/

• https://thumbprint.design/

• https://designsystem.digital.gov/

• https://meetup.github.io/swarm-design-system/

They scale a consistent user experience throughout a product.

Shopify’s Polaris is well documented and its impact is apparent throughout their product.

Open

They bake accessibility into the system.

The Co-op design system has specific guidance for accessibility standards (and some excellent focus states!).

Open

They reflect a brand

Slack’s media kit illustrates how they express their brand visually.

They encourage a consistent voice and tone

Mailchimp’s Content Style Guide and Branding Design defines guides or rules around writing content that help keep their voice consistent. Some tips they include: “Use active voice. Avoid passive voice.” “Avoid slang or jargon.” “Use positive language rather than negative language.”

They create scalable and versatile design guidelines.

Google’s Material Design lays out extremely flexible color and layout systems to enable app developers to create their own look that works well in the android ecosystem.