Key Insights

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  IBM's Carbon design system is supported by a governance model that includes a small core team, asset guild contributors from product teams, and an implementation team to maintain priorities and quality.

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  Design systems are more than code; they are a language of implementation involving people, guidelines, design tools, and shared decisions evolving over time.

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  Many IBM designers previously created unique buttons for products, creating chaos; Carbon design system solved that by standardizing reusable components.

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  Five principles guide the creation of UX patterns: user needs, reproducibility, consistency, flexibility, and extendability.

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  Sketch was pivotal in scaling IBM’s design system by enabling editable component libraries and making design language mutable and accessible.

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  Design systems typically cover 80-95% of use cases; product teams need permission and guidance to break or extend the system to solve unusual problems.

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  Injecting controlled 'chaos' or experiments beyond the design system can lead to improvements incorporated back into the system, as demonstrated by motion design innovations.

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  IBM approaches emerging technologies like AI through design thinking—starting with observation and prototyping to learn and iterate, accepting discomfort as necessary for growth.

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  The Watson Moments design system was created to facilitate AI integration into existing products and includes ethics components to check biases in AI models.

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  Clear communication and shared tooling platforms like Sketch are essential for effective collaboration across design, development, and product teams, reflecting team success in the product.

Notable Quotes