Deliver better experiences, faster.

User experience is increasingly being seen as a key differentiator. Which is why, product, design, and development teams are increasingly being asked to do more, faster. This means they have to deliver consistent, on-brand, and positive experiences across an ever increasing number of products, channels, and devices. 

As the required effort and underlying complexity increases, organisations tend to scale their teams to cope. But there comes a point where adding more resources simply isn’t the answer.

That’s why clients choose us to help them plan, develop, and optimise design systems that deliver the efficiencies their in-house teams need.

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What is a design system?

A design system is a dynamic and modular framework that helps maintain consistency and accelerate design processes. This is achieved by providing access to:

  • A single source of truth and shared visual language
  • Reusable and scalable on-brand components, patterns, and guidance
  • Clear and actionable documentation that helps designers understand what, when, and how to use reusable components and patterns

Ultimately, a design system should make building, maintaining, and future-proofing better digital products easier and faster.

The diagram has three layers outlined by a rectangle labelled "Design System". 
The bottom layer of the diagram is a long rectangle labelled "Brand". It underpins the three sections that make up the second layer. 
Section one is titled "Style guide" and is illustrated by small triangles, squares and circles stacked neatly in a 4 x 4 square.
Section two is titled "Component library" and is illustrated by a large square and a large triangle stacked on top of a large circle and a second large triangle. 
Section three is titled "Content" and is illustrated by a combination of large shapes and small shapes harmoniously arranged into a square.
The third, and top, layer of the diagram is a rectangle labelled "Governance".
Design System visualisation diagram

Key benefits of a design system

Deliver consistent on-brand experiences across channels and devices.
Increase the speed and scalability of design, across your organisation.
Reduce the time and cost of creating and maintaining designs.

What do I get?

In the course of collaborating on the development of a design system the following artefacts and deliverables are likely to be created:
  • Current state audit report
  • Resourcing/RACI model
  • Comms plan
  • Brand strategy
  • Design principles
  • Accessibility guidelines
  • Brand style guide
  • Logo library
  • Illustration library
  • Icon library
  • Content guidelines
  • Component library
  • Pattern library

Fees

Fees for a design system start from £35,000 (exc. VAT).

Timeline

The turn-around time for a design system starts from 8-weeks.

What our clients think

Want to work with us too?

Discuss your desired outcomes with a user experience specialist.

How do you approach developing a design system?

Our user centred approach to developing design systems ensures we:

1. Understand context


  • Kick-off workshop
  • Stakeholder mapping
  • Measurements of success

2. Evaluate the current state


  • Stakeholder interviews
  • Review current design processes
  • Brand and touch point review

3. Define the future state


  • Collaboratively define principles, rules, and standards
  • Design, test, and build core components
  • Design, test, and build high-priority patterns

4. Unpack the what, why, and how


  • Develop style guides and assemble supporting libraries
  • Develop supporting documentation
  • Define ongoing governance rules

5. Stimulate adoption


  • Pre-launch comms
  • Launch and promote
  • Ongoing support and backlog development

Our approach to design systems is guaranteed to reduce the effort, time, and cost of creating and maintaining digital experiences.

Want a design system?

Discuss your specific requirements with a user experience specialist.