{"id":14295,"date":"2018-01-10T17:31:33","date_gmt":"2018-01-10T17:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.intercom.com\/?p=14295"},"modified":"2020-07-30T12:57:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T11:57:05","slug":"solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Solving Fifty Shades of Blue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"opening_paragraph\">There was a stage a few years ago when our Intercom product featured roughly 50 shades of blue. Some of them were intentionally contrasting, of course, but many were just the product of different designers choosing subtly different shades at different times.<\/p>\n<p>Now, 50 distinct shades of any color is rarely advisable, and if they are spread across every corner of a product, it is particularly ill-judged.<\/p>\n<p>Those shades of blue were just one instance of inconsistency that can inevitably develop when a product, and the size of the team building the product, scales fast.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"small\" src=\"https:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Blues.png\" alt=\"50 Shades of Blue\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We had a seemingly simple vision of a solution to address issues such as this \u2013 a comprehensive pattern library to act as a central repository for all our knowledge, processes, principles and resources. The aim was a single source of truth for designers and engineers across the company for reference and inspiration in the course of their work. It would allow us to harmonise not just the colors we used but also common user interface elements such as buttons, cards, tables and so on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"quote\">Like any software project, the work of building a library like this is never done.<\/p>\n<p>One of our co-founders, David Barrett, had been maintaining a library of common elements since 2013, and his work served as the foundational inspiration for the pattern library, though we developed it more from a design perspective. The aim was to make it easier to build things, faster to design things, and above all, help to guarantee consistency.<\/p>\n<p>But we knew that as simple as the vision was, the reality would be surprisingly complex &#8211; and above all would require ongoing iteration. Like any software project, the work of building a library like this is never done.<\/p>\n<p>If you are embarking on a similar endeavour, here are some of the lessons we learned in the year since we built it that you should bear in mind.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"one-year-later\">One year later<\/h2>\n<p>With a lot of effort and hard work, we put together a website that we called \u201cBuild\u201d \u2013 it contains our design principles, writing and tone guidelines, as well as a pattern library containing re-usable components and Intercom-specific objects.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"small\" src=\"https:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/BuildAvatarsNew.png\" alt=\"Build Avatars\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But while we accurately predicted how demanding it would be to create, we didn\u2019t quite anticipate how it would be used and and how it would evolve.<\/p>\n<p>We adhere to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/books\/jobs-to-be-done\">Jobs-to-be-Done strategy in designing Intercom<\/a> \u2013 taking time to understand exactly what people\u2019s needs are. However, we discovered that predicting exactly how our colleagues go about their work and what their needs are is surprisingly difficult \u2013 as it turns out, the design library was a better fit for some of us than for others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"quote quote-left\">It also helped shape our team\u2019s mindset towards design system thinking.<\/p>\n<p>That was because designers use patterns in varying ways \u2013 some designers lean towards strict adherence to the patterns, or even expand on them by introducing new varieties and styles, while others require more flexibility so they can diverge from the established patterns.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, it significantly improved designers\u2019 workflows as they are able to compose their designs much faster because of the shared Sketch file, making common assets available to the team. It also helped shape our team\u2019s mindset towards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/the-full-stack-design-system\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">design system thinking<\/a>, which in turn improved the coherence of our product. Previously it was much more likely that two designers might design the same thing in two different ways, but that became much less likely with the central library as a reference point.<\/p>\n<p>We discovered that in practice, our design system was based on a vision that didn\u2019t entirely reflect how we actually currently work \u2013 the idea of a central repository makes a lot of sense, but making it a part of everyone\u2019s workflow is a distinct and separate challenge.<\/p>\n<p>In particular, having been built very much from the Design team\u2019s perspective, the Engineering team found it rather less useful than we hoped: because of technical limitations, we weren\u2019t able to include living dynamic examples for all components as well as code snippets for them.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"unexpected-consequences\">Unexpected consequences<\/h2>\n<p>But the Build site did spectacularly succeed in an entirely unexpected way \u2013 it was embraced by new colleagues as an in-depth guide while onboarding. They found it to be an invaluable guide as they acquainted themselves with Intercom. The documentation proved itself extremely useful as a reference to answer both design- and engineering-related questions newcomers might have.<\/p>\n<p class=\"quote\">We have begun to think of it as a product and the other designers and engineers as our customers.<\/p>\n<p>If given the chance to go back to the drawing board, I would focus on both the Design and Engineering jobs equally. I would also establish clear strategies and rules of the system at the very start \u2013 for instance, do we strictly adhere to these patterns, do we share the responsibility of updating and maintaining the library. Determining these guidelines from the beginning would help drive decisions as we developed the library.<\/p>\n<p>Above all, what this showed was that we hadn\u2019t quite predicted the right jobs to be done \u2013 for either new colleagues or people who were already very familiar with our principles and values.<br \/>\nThis doesn\u2019t mean the work involved was wasted (quite the contrary!), but with this insight, we can continue to adapt the library with a focus on helping people with the tasks they require. Ultimately, we have begun to think of it as a product and the other designers and engineers as our customers, and based on this ran research surveys and gathered feedback on how to improve it further.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"small\" src=\"https:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/BuildColorsNew.png\" alt=\"Build colors\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"pearls-of-wisdom\">Pearls of wisdom<\/h2>\n<p>To summarise our experiences in three nuggets of advice, I would first of all recommend that you formulate a clear strategy so there is a shared understanding how your library should be used. Think about how much customization and local changes are allowed, so designers can find the best fit that matches the needs of the solution they are designing for. Take this decision into account in code as well, so customizations won\u2019t break anything.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, don\u2019t be afraid to think outside the box for what your design system might become \u2013 just because you built it to be part of the current team\u2019s workflow, say, doesn\u2019t mean it can\u2019t also be a perfect onboarding tool. Allow it to morph and evolve as it develops.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, and I can\u2019t stress this enough as it is really crucial for success: ensure you maintain the library so it reflects the latest state of your product. You can&#8217;t just build it and be done \u2013 it must be a permanent living document, because only if it is constantly relevant will the work be worthwhile and the results trusted. As I said above, just like software, a library like this must be constantly iterated on to stay alive. Otherwise, the number of different shades of blue in your product could be the least of your problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There was a stage a few years ago when our Intercom product featured roughly 50 shades of blue. Some of them were intentionally contrasting, of course, but many were just the product of different designers choosing&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":285,"featured_media":14296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"category":[5],"tags":[83,600,575,146],"coauthors":[635],"class_list":["post-14295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-product-and-design","tag-design","tag-design-principles","tag-design-system","tag-recruitment"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Solving Fifty Shades of Blue - The Intercom Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When your product teams scale fast, it can be hard to maintain consistency. Here\u2019s how we created a comprehensive design system to keep everyone on the same page.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Solving Fifty Shades of Blue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When your product teams scale fast, it can be hard to maintain consistency. Here\u2019s how we created a comprehensive design system to keep everyone on the same page.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Intercom Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intercominc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-10T17:31:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-30T11:57:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Design_Systems_One_Year_On.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1968\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"932\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kristy Marcinova\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@iKristy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@intercom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kristy Marcinova\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kristy Marcinova\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/555a0fb6845c7bf236ab79bad65cb1ef\"},\"headline\":\"Solving Fifty Shades of Blue\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-10T17:31:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-30T11:57:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1168,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/Design_Systems_One_Year_On.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"design\",\"design principles\",\"design system\",\"recruitment\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Product &amp; Design\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\\\/\",\"name\":\"Solving Fifty Shades of Blue - The Intercom Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/solving-fifty-shades-blue-built-design-system\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/Design_Systems_One_Year_On.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-10T17:31:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-30T11:57:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"When your product teams scale fast, it can be hard to maintain consistency. 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