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Your Sketch library is not a design system(bradfrost.com)

over 5 years ago from Mike A., @AllPrototypes.com

  • Duke CavinskiDuke Cavinski, over 5 years ago

    Semantics are going to kill us all.

    He's arguing that a Sketch library in and of itself is not a design system. I don't know who would disagree. Without good code & user research, my perfectly nested symbols are meaningless. I'm not really sure what he's actually trying to do here, though, short of making people kind of confused or possibly defensive.

    23 points
    • Sean LesterSean Lester, over 5 years ago

      I have been careful, lately, in the organization about how I use these terms because I do want it to be clear that the design system is bigger than and doesn't stop at a Sketch Library — which I've begun referring to simply as our "component library." Though it does contain and encode many or most of the meaningful decisions and product of the system.

      5 points
    • Sean SchraederSean Schraeder, over 5 years ago

      Probably trying to remind people that even though you might have components and patterns laid out in a sketch file without the rest of your organization / team having access and understanding of it it is just a design file; and not yet a system.

      2 points
    • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, over 5 years ago

      I'm not really sure what he's actually trying to do here

      Me either. A good design system will need something like Sketch Libraries and code, and many processes to maintain them both. Arguing for code-only or design-document only seems to miss the benefits and need for the other. There are definitely cases where only having one would work, but I think it’s more common to need both.

      So yes, your Sketch Library is part of your design system.

      11 points