Short answer
Design systems creates and maintains reusable design standards that improve consistency and delivery. It covers shared foundations, components, documentation, contribution, and change management across teams.
About Design systems
Creates and maintains reusable design standards that improve consistency and delivery. The competency covers foundations, components, documentation, contribution decisions, release communication, and adoption across teams.
Use this competency for
- Roles accountable for reusable design foundations, components, patterns, or contribution processes.
- Roles expected to maintain shared standards and support their use across multiple teams.
Do not use this competency for
- Roles that use system components but do not create, maintain, document, or govern shared standards.
Important distinctions
Visual design
Design systems maintains reusable visual and behavioral standards across teams. Visual design applies composition and hierarchy to a specific product or communication need.
Interaction design
Design systems codifies repeatable patterns and their conditions. Interaction design resolves the behavior and task flow of a particular experience.
Expectations by level
IC1
Individual contributor 1
Contributes a defined system update with guidance, follows existing conventions, documents states and usage, and verifies that design and implementation references agree.
Observable behaviors
- Applies naming, structure, and documentation conventions to an assigned contribution.
- Documents component states, inputs, limits, and basic usage examples.
- Compares design assets and implemented components and records mismatches.
Examples
- Adds a missing component state using the established naming and token conventions.
- Updates documentation after finding that the coded component supports an option absent from the design reference.
IC2
Individual contributor 2
Independently evaluates and delivers system changes for recurring needs, distinguishes reusable patterns from local solutions, coordinates implementation, and communicates migration or adoption requirements.
Observable behaviors
- Reviews requests and identifies the shared need, local exception, or duplicate pattern.
- Specifies component behavior, content guidance, accessibility needs, and migration impact.
- Tracks adoption problems and revises documentation or the component where evidence supports it.
Examples
- Combines three similar requests into one component API while leaving a product-specific workflow local.
- Publishes a changed pattern with examples and a migration note for teams using the previous version.
IC3
Individual contributor 3
Leads system direction across teams, resolves competing standards, establishes contribution and release decisions, and uses adoption evidence to prioritize foundational improvements.
Observable behaviors
- Defines principles that guide which patterns enter the system and which remain product-specific.
- Facilitates decisions across design and engineering when shared foundations conflict.
- Uses contribution, support, and adoption evidence to prioritize system changes.
Examples
- Creates an intake and review process after parallel teams begin building incompatible versions of the same control.
- Prioritizes token and component changes that resolve repeated adoption blockers across several products.