Sharing my design system mistakes with Ladies that UX Lisbon
Intro & Context
At the beginning of 2024, I was invited by Ladies that UX Lisbon to discuss design systems. Given the freedom to choose my focus, I aimed to offer something unique, beyond what could be found on YouTube or Medium. I decided to share the mistakes I’ve made and how I would approach things differently today. To add a touch of humor, I titled the workshop “Design Systems: How to Fail Miserably.”
Since some attendees were new to design systems, I began by explaining what a design system is. I mentioned that if you ask ten people, you’ll likely get ten different answers. To illustrate this, I actually did ask my teammates—designers, engineers, PMs, and my manager—and shared their responses.
I then provided my own definition: “a set of resources and guidelines on how to design for a brand or product.” I delved deeper into this definition, showing examples of resources and guidelines and discussing the main benefits—consistency and efficiency.
With the introduction complete, I moved on to the mistakes I made, which I'll summarize here. For the full details, feel free to reach out.
How to fail miserably
Starting by creating components, and create a lot
Today, I would first design the ideal experience and then extract patterns and components from that.
Strategy must be created exclusively by executives
Now, I would start by defining what success means for my users and then create the strategy and metrics accordingly.
Don't work on contribution model
Today, I invest more effort in making people feel part of the process, encouraging collaboration and ownership.
"You're not your user"
Now, I regularly use my product to understand and empathize with my users' pain points.
Don't expose your product and team
Nowadays, I share both successes and failures openly. I strive to give visibility to myself, my team, and our product within the company and externally.
Feedback
By the end, we had an incredible Q&A session and great conversations, and here are some of the spontaneous feedback I received—mostly on LinkedIn—after the workshop:
I wanted to thank you for the workshop you did on Design System last week. I really loved it. Super inspiring. Thank you for sharing your experiences and growth with us.
I really enjoyed your event on Design Systems at EDIT. Thank you for all the sharing of knowledge, resources, and most of all, failures! It was really good, congratulations!
Huge thanks to Leo Ratzlaff for sharing your journey of navigating design systems from the highs and lows to the the mistakes and learnings.
