Summary
Defining a design system that’s adaptable, modular and more importantly, future proof, is a monumental task. With several years of contributing to their design system and software suite, Mitchell Bernstein, AI Design Lead, will go through IBM’s experience on this topic, sharing key takeaways about their evolving Carbon Design System. Mitchell will also dive into details on how to adapt any design system to complex, AI-powered software with the help of Sketch.
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
"Design systems are the language of implementation; they communicate ideas in a common format and process."
"Previously, designers were inventing their own buttons for each product, exasperating chaos and frustration for developers."
"Carbon is just the starting point for what can be imagined; we’re hired for our expertise to adapt, not just follow directions."
"You have to admit we don’t know everything, we have to ask each other and ask our users, so we can learn together."
"Discomfort and growth cannot coexist — to innovate monumentally, you need to embrace discomfort."
"Sketch was the first to make it possible to build a scalable library for thousands of products and millions of customers."
"When the design system doesn’t cover 100% of use cases, product teams must decide when and how to break from it."
"We’re literally using AI to help AI build AI — with systems detecting bias and asking for user confirmation before proceeding."
"The product is the reflection of how well teams communicate."
"If the pattern isn’t solving a real user need across multiple products, stop working on it."
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