Part Two | Understanding Costs — Intro This is the second of three articles discussing how to think about component libraries. In Part One, we talked about redefining the value of shared component libraries. Now we’ll talk about understanding costs — another often misunderstood aspect of component libraries. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list…

Part One | Redefining Value — Intro This is the first of three articles discussing aspects of shared component libraries, whether in a design system context or otherwise. Specifically, we’ll look at how we define value, understanding cost, and how to build for the future. This article will focus on how we think about the value of…

Understanding the spectrum of control in design systems Introduction When describing a design system, I usually default to Donnella Meadows’s definition of a system (which I’m paraphrasing) as interconnected elements that have a shared function or purpose. That’s an oversimplification, but it’s a good starting point. When talking about a design…

Overview Structure ├ Primitives ├ Elements ├ Compositions Understanding the Hierarchy The main purpose of the hierarchy is to provide a focused scope of responsibility for individual components and meaningful relationships between them. This allows components to be composed in ways that provide a healthy balance of structure and flexibility. Without structure the components become…

an open letter to white folks I’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus’ Parable of the Talents¹ and how it relates to us today. If you’re not familiar, I’ll give you a short summary: A man is going on a long journey and entrusts three servants with talents (money) before…

guidelines for building shared components — Overview This is a high-level description of API guidelines for shared components. It is intended to provide a general framework for creating resilient and adaptable components. These guidelines are derived from three main concepts: Make the right choices easy Make incorrect choices obvious Provide helpful off-ramps Make the Correct Choices Easy Documentation is great, but if…

decoupling purpose from outputs — What are Systems? Note: This article references several concepts from systems thinking, most of which are derived from Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella H. Meadows. If you’d like to learn more about systems thinking, I would highly recommend it. We can think of any system as a collection of interconnected elements…

Is Actually Humans — The problem with CSS conventions is that they rely on developers to manually maintain them with a high degree of accuracy to be effective. This problem is compounded as styles grow. Each developer needs to know more context in order to effectively style UI. That’s why “You should just write…

Coupling Containers to their Concerns — Overview Purpose This document was created to clarify details about the composite component pattern and component responsibilities. It also includes examples and testing guidelines. The patterns described here are intended to be general guidelines, not requirements, and are intended to be used when reasonable. The purpose of establishing these patterns is to…