We're the Design Systems Experts

We're a collective of experts empowering businesses of all sizes. We craft bespoke design systems tailored to enhance efficiency, simplify complexity, and fuel scalability.

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Meet the future of creating, updating, or maintaining a design system.

How It Works

We're crafting design systems in 3 easy steps: Build from scratch, expand, or update your design system with one of our memberships.

Choose A Plan

Get started by signing up for a plan and begin requesting components.

Submit Documentation

Submit docs like brand guides, wireframes, success criteria, and more.

Free Revisions

We'll revise the designs until you're 100% satisfied — no added fees.

Recent Work

While we can't show all our work (darn NDAs), we are proud to showcase some highlights from recent projects.

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Membership Plans

Our team can create, improve, or build design systems to help you propel growth, eliminate redundancies, and boost efficiency.

Questions? Book a call.

ROI Quiz

Investing in a design system can improve consistency, sentiment, accessibility, and productivity. The most straightforward way to measure ROI is through cost savings achieved by improved efficiency.

FAQs

Can you explain how each membership tier works?

Each membership plan follows the same project management process. However, the variation lies in the amount of work the client needs. Once the clients activate their membership, we initiate the project and ask them to complete a Component Request Form. This form is then synced to Asana, our project management tool. In Asana, we prioritize the work, track the status of the requests, and provide/receive feedback on the designs in progress. Clients can also invite other collaborators to join the Asana board and collaborate on the project or create new component requests.

With the Essential Membership, clients can request one component at a time, and we'll work with their team until it's perfect. If they want to keep working together, we'll begin working on their next prioritized component. This membership delivers one component every 3-6 (M-F) business days. We call this progress-based billing.

The Extra Membership allows the clients to add as many component requests to their queue as they want. We start working on the highest-priority components and work through the queue. If the clients have requirements, wireframes, or success criteria ready, we can complete a lot of work in a month. On average, this membership delivers 15-30 components per month. This membership delivers components every 7-10 (M-F) business days.

Lastly, the Premium Membership builds on the Extra Membership plan by creating a three-month timeline during which we can design and document between 30 and 90 components. This extra time allows us to audit typography and create customized component documentation. This membership delivers a batch of components bi-weekly (M-F).

Why should our company implement a design system?

Many technology giants like Google, IBM, and Salesforce rely on design systems to standardize and expand design efforts within their organizations. However, design systems are not limited to just big companies.

According to a survey by Forrester in 2020, 65% of companies said they use design systems. A design system comprises a set of patterns and practices that assist teams throughout an organization, from designers to developers, to create consistent and accessible digital products. Although different models exist, most design systems consist of a pattern library, design tokens, brand and style guidelines, and documentation on how to use the system.

Design systems have two main benefits. Firstly, they accelerate every stage of product development, from concept and design to production and testing. Figma conducted an experiment in 2019, which found that designers who used a system completed their tasks 34% faster than those who did not. Secondly, design systems enhance the customer experience by ensuring consistency, familiarity, and accessibility at every touchpoint.

We could hire a freelance designer, right?

Recruiting agencies usually charge a placement fee that is prorated based on how long the candidate stays with the company. For instance, if a candidate works with a company for one month, earns an annual salary of $50,000, and the placement fee is 20%, the agency would charge the company 91.6% (11 divided by 12 months) of the original 20% fee. In this scenario, the agency would charge the company $9,166.66. If you add up these fees for a year or six months, it becomes clear that working with recruiting companies can be quite expensive. You could save a lot of money by working directly with The Design Systems Company instead.

The cost of hiring a senior-level designer for a full-time position can exceed $100,000 per year, along with additional benefits. Finding a designer available for this position can be quite challenging. Moreover, you may not have enough work to keep them busy year-round, which means you will have to pay for their time even when they aren't working.

Alternatively, you may have to assign them tasks outside their area of expertise. Our memberships offer you greater flexibility. You can pause and resume your membership plan whenever you wish, ensuring that you only pay for the time you need. This way, you can save money while also ensuring that your work is done by a professional who is passionate about their craft.

How do I request components?

Clients request components through a Google Form connected to Asana. Clients can access the component request form and Asana once a membership is activated.

The component request form walks the client through assigning the main point of contact and project name, component naming, prioritizing the component, and uploading brand materials such as fonts, color palettes, UX requirements, wireframes, creative briefs, etc.

When will we see our first batch of components?

The time required to complete a component is greatly affected by its complexity and the accompanying documentation. In most cases, it takes between three to five working days to complete a component. This duration includes one or two days for designing and building the component properties and another day for documenting each component.

We deliver components or batches of components according to your selected plan. The estimated delivery time for each membership type is as follows:

- Essential Membership: one component at a time, delivered within 3-6 business days (M-F)
- Extra Membership: batch delivery, delivered within 7-10 business days (M-F)
- Premium Membership: batch delivery, delivered every 13 business days (M-F)

Therefore, depending on the complexity of the components, we can deliver anywhere between one to ten components per week. If your team is organized, we can speed up the design process. We carefully review the component requirements submitted by our clients, refine our designs, incorporate UX best practices, and provide options if needed. We also create Figma component properties such as on/off states, button states, component variants, and component min/max width and height (if applicable). Lastly, we thoroughly document each component for your development team.

Can you tell us about the team?

The Design Systems Co. is a small team -- one project manager and one designer. This means you'll work directly with highly experienced talent who have had experience working for companies such as Apple, Sonos, Ford, GTB (formerly Team Detroit), Digitas, Huge Inc., etc.

What programs do you design in?

All our work is created using Figma. This allows us to be invited into your current design system if you'd like, or we can create new files or libraries and share them efficiently.

What is included in a design system?

A design system is a set of standards that helps manage design consistently using reusable components and patterns. It benefits various people from different teams in a company. There are two crucial components to a design system: the design repository and the people who manage it.

Component libraries contain predetermined, reusable UI elements and serve as a one-stop shop. They include component names, descriptions, attributes, states, and code snippets. Component and pattern libraries are meant to be reused and adapted. A design system requires continuous maintenance and oversight.

At The Design System Co., we provide Figma working files to help streamline your company's design process. These deliverables come in the form of a Figma Library or .fig file.

What's the difference between Standard & Custom documentation?

Standard Documentation:

The documents you submit will define the standard documentation. In other words, if you specify success criteria and UX requirements or provide wireframes, we will document the component design to support those requirements.

Custom Documentation:

You or your team can request custom documentation that includes specific design details for greater efficiency when the design goes to development. For example, if you want hit areas and padding to be highlighted in a particular way, we can accommodate your request.

What is WCAG compliance?

The WCAG guidelines provide clear instructions for site owners to make their websites accessible to people with disabilities. The WCAG has evolved, with the first version, WCAG 1.0, debuting in 1999, followed by WCAG 2.0 in 2008. WCAG defines thirteen guidelines with ratings of A, AA, and AAA, which range from A (the lowest) to AA and AAA (the highest).

All the success criteria for that level must be met to achieve a specific level of compliance. Compliance should be approached one level at a time. The WCAG is updated periodically to reflect new developments and technologies. Recently, the Department of Justice required website owners to conform to WCAG 2.1, which includes 17 additional success criteria primarily focused on mobile user experience.

These criteria have been official W3C recommendations for several years, making the change inevitable. The WCAG addresses various issues on the internet that affect people with disabilities, such as difficulty viewing websites, hearing audio, and navigating with a mouse or keyboard. Our default practice is to ensure all designs pass ADA/WCAG requirements.

Do you offer web or product development services?

Currently, we offer product design and design systems services. Our area of expertise is in crafting the visual aspects of product design within Figma. However, we do not provide coding or development services at the moment. It is worth mentioning that we plan to offer these services in the future.

How does the pause feature work?

You can pause your membership at any time for any reason. This convenient option allows you to stop the billing cycle until you're ready to resume. The billing cycle depends on the membership plan you have chosen:

- Essential Membership: Seven days
- Extra Membership: Thirty-one days
- Premium Membership: Ninety days

For example, you've subscribed to the Extra Membership and used it for 21 days. You can then pause your subscription, which will pause the billing cycle. You'll have ten days of remaining service, which you can use anytime when ready to resume.

What if I don't like the design?

Don't worry, we will keep revising the design until you are completely satisfied.

Are there any refunds if I don't like the service?

Since we've spent 20-plus years making big brands happy, we're confident you'll be thrilled with our efforts. Due to the "work for hire" nature, our flexible memberships, and high-quality work, we do not offer refunds.

Refer & Earn

Get a stackable discount for each Premium Membership referral. Some restrictions may apply.

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