Design systems have grown in popularity in recent years. It’s easy to see the benefits. A design system serves as the one source of truth for both designers and front-end developers. If done correctly, they’ll result in a uniform design and clean code. But deciding to embark on a design system is like choosing to complete an Ironman. The decision is only the beginning of the journey.

In this talk, we’ll go through the next steps after deciding to embark on the design system journey. I’ve been through the process three different times on long-term projects for three different clients. From underestimating technical debt to miscommunication of our goals politically, I’ve stumbled into many of the pitfalls and learned hard lessons from them. Whether you’re a designer, front-end developer, or project manager, we’ll go through how to avoid these pitfalls and get your design system to the finish line. We’ll also go through a live design system to show why all that hard work is worth it!