Design Systems

What is a Design System?

A collection of reusable components, guided by clear standards, that can be assembled to build applications.

Components

Atomic Design

Atoms: Basic building blocks

• Buttons, inputs, labels, icons

Molecules: Simple combinations

• Search bar (input + button)
• Form field (label + input + error)

Organisms: Complex components

• Header, sidebar, card

Templates: Page layouts

• Dashboard, settings page

Pages: Specific instances

• User dashboard, admin settings

Design Tokens

{
  "color": {
    "primary": {
      "50": "#f0f9ff",
      "500": "#0ea5e9",
      "900": "#0c4a6e"
    },
    "neutral": {
      "100": "#f5f5f5",
      "900": "#171717"
    }
  },
  "spacing": {
    "1": "0.25rem",
    "2": "0.5rem",
    "4": "1rem",
    "8": "2rem"
  },
  "font": {
    "family": {
      "sans": "Inter, sans-serif",
      "mono": "JetBrains Mono, monospace"
    },
    "size": {
      "sm": "0.875rem",
      "base": "1rem",
      "lg": "1.125rem"
    }
  },
  "radius": {
    "sm": "0.25rem",
    "md": "0.375rem",
    "lg": "0.5rem"
  }
}

Component API

interface ButtonProps {
  variant: 'primary' | 'secondary' | 'ghost';
  size: 'sm' | 'md' | 'lg';
  disabled?: boolean;
  loading?: boolean;
  leftIcon?: ReactNode;
  rightIcon?: ReactNode;
  children: ReactNode;
  onClick?: () => void;
}

Documentation

Each component should document:

• Usage: When to use
• Props: Available options
• Examples: Common patterns
• Accessibility: A11y considerations
• Do/Don't: Best practices

Resources

• Design Framework Template