Design Systems for 2024
Tags: design, designsystem, webdev, ui
Published: 2024-02-27 19:42:40

A design system is a collection of reusable components and guidelines that form the foundation for user interfaces (UI) across various digital products within an organization. It essentially acts as a single source of truth for all things related to the UI, ensuring consistency and efficiency in design and development.

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## Here's a breakdown of the key components of a design system:

**Reusable UI components:** These are pre-built building blocks like buttons, menus, forms, etc., that can be easily integrated and reused across different digital products. This saves designers and developers time and effort compared to creating them from scratch every time.

**Style guides:** These define the visual language of the system, including things like typography, color palettes, spacing, and iconography. This ensures visual consistency across all interfaces, contributing to a cohesive brand experience.

**Documentation and guidelines:** This part provides clear instructions on how to use the components and adhere to the style guide. It helps developers understand the technical implementation of the components and aids designers in creating consistent and user-friendly experiences.

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## Overall, a design system UI offers several benefits:

**Consistency:** Ensures a uniform look and feel across all products, fostering brand recognition and familiarity for users.

**Efficiency:** Saves time and resources by enabling the reuse of pre-built components and established design patterns.

**Scalability:** Makes it easier to manage and maintain UI elements as the product portfolio grows, facilitating future development.

**Collaboration:** Provides a common language for design and development teams, fostering smoother communication and collaboration.

In essence, a design system UI acts as a powerful tool for maintaining consistency, efficiency, and scalability in the design and development of digital products.

Determining the "top" design systems is subjective, as different systems in various aspects. However, some of the well-established and popular design systems in 2024 include:

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## Material Design 3 by Google:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/zfptgxatw20oes8u503h.png)

A comprehensive and mature system known for its clean, user-friendly aesthetics and extensive documentation. It offers a wide range of components and guidelines for building web, mobile, and desktop applications.

Homepage:
👉 https://m3.material.io

An open source CSS Framework:
👉 https://www.beercss.com

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## Fluent 2 by Microsoft:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3m5lucv5dwrc707zq6gw.png)

Microsoft's design system emphasizes a clean, modern aesthetic with a focus on light, depth, motion, and material. It's well-suited for building UIs for Windows, web, and mobile platforms.

Homepage:
👉 https://fluent2.microsoft.design

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## Carbon Design System by IBM:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/uxj7w0lckmre4pd583d4.png)

A robust system known for its modularity and accessibility focus. It provides a wide range of components and guidelines for building web, mobile, and desktop applications, with an emphasis on inclusivity and accessibility.

Homepage:
👉 https://carbondesignsystem.com/

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## Design System by Apple:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gj1zyz989whqomt3aaxg.png)

Apple doesn't have a single, unified design system in the traditional sense. However, they do provide a robust collection of resources and guidelines that collectively act as a foundation for the design of their software products. These resources can be found on the Apple Developer website under the Design section.

Homepage:
👉 https://developer.apple.com/design/

It's important to note that the best design system for you will depend on your specific needs and preferences. Consider factors like the size and complexity of your design projects, the platforms you're targeting, and the importance of accessibility when choosing a system to adopt.