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Maintaining a universal experience for your brand should be your number one goal as a business owner.

Design systems are great for digital products. As we commented in our recent post 

, we explored its benefits within a business. A design system helps maintain consistency across web design, app design, and even kiosk design. But what if design systems could be something greater, what if they could be used across the physical and the digital?

Within digital, a design system makes perfect sense. Within physical, would it not be fair to say we have style guides that do the job of a design system? Yes, and no, is our honest answer. A style guide is exactly that; a guide for the style of something. Whereas a design system is something entirely different from the get-go; its place is at the brand level.

An image showing different components from the Built design system. It shows logos, colour styles and iconography.

A design system is important to ensure constancy in the roll out of design across all platforms. It also speeds up design as it means that designers can reuse components.

Built - Design system components - Glue

At a physical and print level, a design system does the same job it does for digital. You have components, patterns, and systems for delivering an effective experience and communication. There are a few differences when tackling design systems for print and physical. Your output must be tactile. What’s the smell? How does light react with it? The list goes on…

We created a universal design system for 

. Internally, the design system was classed as a 

 guide. With multiple branch rollouts planned and branch-specific marketing, a design system is key to maintaining the consistency the brand required.

A design system should be the guiding principle and a well-defined process. But to create a truly brilliant design system, you have to craft it with the employee, user, and customer in mind. This input will guide you to a design system that works for today, and tomorrow.

At Glue, we create design systems for brands to thrive. Digital transformation is at the tips of every business leader’s tongue, but we should not forget about the physical. It has its place and its importance will never die down. It will just change and a rigorous design system will help your brand stay in front of that change.

Design systems across the physical and digital

Glue

Employees and customers choose to engage with your brand in an evermore varied way. We look into what a design system is and what it can do for your business.

In short, a design system is a collection of collatable components. A design system provides you guidance on user experience patterns and visual style. It creates consistency and reduces the time for your project pipeline. A design system allows your team to focus on core business objectives and not get busied with fictitious visual problems.

Visualisation of some key design components and guidelines designed by Glue for the Construction manager platform provided by Eque2 named Construction Cloud

Visualisation of a several blocks of design system UI rules and components designed by Glue design team for the construction manager platform provided by Eque2 named Construct Cloud. That was part of the re-design and user experience enhancements that Glue Design and Research teams provided to the platform.

Eque2 - Elevating core platform experiences - Construct Cloud Design system - Glue

The design system for Three's digital ticketing system

The design system for Three's digital ticketing system. Specifically, we see the treatment of typography, colours, and iconography.

Three - Digital Ticketing Device, Design System - Glue

Design systems are more than just what we see. It’s how design should be talked about within your business. A design system is for everyone within your brand; executive members, managers, doers and everyone in between. As we’re seeing in every product and service industry, design is becoming key for your business.

 have implemented their own design systems. These design systems are extremely interesting as they have been achieved at such a grand scale. The time and investment into creating a repeatable component-based system now allow them to tackle other more concerning problems. All businesses have similar woes; design systems help provide solutions for them.

Creating a design system takes time. It needs to touch upon every aspect of your business. Everyone is required to accept, adopt and adapt it. It’s a fluid beast that continuously evolves as your business grows. By developing a design system you will increase productivity and collaboration, and improve quality, consistency, and accessibility.

We have developed our battel-tested framework for creating design systems for our clients. It allows them to quickly and effectively create new pages whilst maintaining a consistent experience. Doing business is difficult at the best of times. A design system reduces friction and allows you to focus on the core objectives. Their success is down to the agility enabled down through the business from the top.

At Glue, we help businesses bridge the gap between design and development. We create design systems and seamlessly integrate them into your DNA, getting buy-in at every level of your organisation. Speak to us to implement a design system that drives impetus for your brand.

Design systems across the physical and digital

Maintaining a universal experience for your brand should be your number one goal as a business owner.

Physical design system

Conclusion