Davy Fung

How do design system teams prove their value? Finding hard metrics around the impact of design system teams has historically been a challenge. A year ago, I met the design system team at Eventbrite who could confidently say that they saved 534 days of engineering effort with their design system. Here's their calculation: Time spent to develop a component pre-design system - time spent to install the design system component = Time saved In order to extrapolate this number, though, you need to know how many times a component has been used. And, that used to require a savvy dev on the team to build something custom. That's no longer the case. We built something at zeroheight that will allow you to track component use in a single repo or across all of your repos. This should help teams show how valuable they are, plus do things like: see which components to prioritize based on use see which product teams are adopting As an added bonus, anyone using the new feature set can also monitor design system packages, allowing them to quickly see which teams are using outdated packages. On a personal note, I'm hoping with data like this, more teams can confidently quantify their impact. And along the way, we'll get better as design system practitioners at identifying the right things to work on. This new feature set is in beta and totally free. Even if you aren't using zeroheight to document your design system, you can use it. Takes like 15 minutes and you've got rich data. Here's the sign up:

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I get asked pretty often what resources are out there that help people break into the UX field. Ryan's great and could offer some really good well informed insights. if you're curious about some interview prep, give this a look

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Hiring for design system roles differs from hiring for other design or engineering roles. Clarifying what makes the roles unique is essential for screening candidates. Here are some nuances that I've found to be helpful. When asking for a presentation, stop using the word "portfolio" and start using "case studies." They tell similar stories but change the expectations from traditional visual portfolios. Include clear bullet points about expected responsibilities; don't just copy and paste requirements from other similar, existing roles. Just because they have the word "designer" or "engineer" in the title doesn't mean the job is the same. If your org still insists on doing a design exercise, tailor it to reflect what you expect from a design system practitioner. The day-to-day is unique, so don't waste time on an exercise that provides no value for you and sets the candidate up for failure. If hiring a design system team manager, you're not hiring an independent contributor and vice versa. Managing and building design systems is a lot of work. One person can't do both roles well simultaneously, so pick one and focus the interview questions on the expected role. What did I miss?

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My top 3 project selection tips for design leaders doing portfolio presentations: 1. Pick projects that have a good mix of what you did directly plus what the team did. Very rarely is anyone looking for a pure people manager while hiring a design leader. Your personal contributions need to stand out in your work. It doesn’t have to be IC work (but if you do that, show it). It could be a doc you wrote, an insight you uncovered, a strategy you formulated etc. Differentiate between what you did yourself, what you directed the team to do, and things the team might have driven independently. Make this distinction clear as you present your portfolio. People want to see you can do smart stuff yourself, can direct a team well, but will also build a high functioning team that does good work. Also, if you would like I can do a separate post in these 3 modes of operation for any design leader. 2. Pick projects based on the role you’re applying for. It doesn’t have to be and most certainly won’t be a 100% match. But for example, if what the team needs is scaling a successful product, pick examples where you enabled scale. This needs to be deeper than “I’m applying for fintech so here’s another fintech project”. Your project selection should show you understand the challenges for the company and have transferrable skills. 3. Pick projects where you can show both macro and micro user insights. Scale the macro according to your seniority and level. For example, if you’re applying for a Director role, you better have projects that show you driving user insights at Director scale (for instance something that drove resourcing decisions). At the same time, the project should also show micro insights appropriate to role. For example, key interaction design flows redone by your team for the goal. Or even things like font/color selection and how that drove impact. Use these guidelines and apply the filter for what fits with your past experience and this new role. If you have the same portfolio presentation for completely different roles, something is off somewhere. You only need to present 2-3 projects in a presentation, pick the most appropriate ones. If this sounds complicated and like a lot of work, it is. Project selection is THE foundation for how your presentation will play out.

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As a design leader, I've always been driven by a company's vision and mission. It's deeply meaningful to me, and I've found joy in igniting that same passion in others by sharing our North Star. Over the years, I've come to realise that nothing is more fundamental than the essence of a brand itself. Inspiring others stems from a shared understanding of who we are and why we do what we do throughout the entire organisation. But how do we achieve this alignment? Sometimes, big changes don't require massive efforts. Investing just three hours in the right discussion with the right people can lead to transformative outcomes. The Brand Sprint: a concise three-hour brainstorming session aimed at making tangible what "our brand" truly represents. Surprisingly, there's a lack of accessible templates for this process. So, I created one myself. In my latest video, I walk you through it and share some valuable insights. Feel free to utilise it and share your feedback.

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🗣️ Pssst! Many (most?) UX/Design orgs have way more people than are actually necessary to deliver great user experience. This is something I was first clued into in 2014, speaking with a design leader who had recently left a Silicon Valley software company to run a team at a bank. She told me how the team she inherited had 20 people, but, given her team's straightforward remit (showing balances, transaction activity, and other basics), she should only need 10 folks to deliver a quality user experience. But then she said something that I've replayed in my head at least weekly since then. She said that she was stunned to realize that, given the complexity of her product organization, she actually needed 40 people to cover all the work and relationships. This is when I realized that many design orgs were not "user-centered" or "customer-centered," but "product-centered." And these product teams are bloated (from the perspective of delivering meaningful customer value), which drives design teams to be bloated as well (again, from the frame of reference of delivering user/customer value). What I didn't know at the time was the trend (and cult) of agile transformations and SAFe, which I now believe to be the primary culprit of this bloat. Shortly before I left Adaptive Path, I lead a team that designed the entire ecommerce experience (for desktop and mobile web) for a major brand, including landing pages, category pages, detailed product pages with reviews, shopping cart and checkout functionality, wishlists, address books, birthday reminders, and more. We had 5 people. For a team covering all those things to be effective in-house now, you'd need at least 15, and many would have so much more. I know what I'm saying may strike a sensitive chord in this time of layoffs and difficulty finding work. And I'm not saying we should cut UX/Design teams in half—these teams need to be this size to ensure quality UX is delivered in these contexts. But I suspect the convulsions we're experiencing are in some part due to a realization that these product development organizations are fundamentally misshapen to deliver the kind of value expected of them.

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Most designers are trained to present work to our peers, but as your career matures, your audience expands to include many other departments who don’t speak “design”. This article resonated with me and offers some sage advice about the use of storytelling and a “business lens” to craft more compelling presentations. #ProductDesign #Storytelling #UserResearch #BusinessObjectives

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Well that’s a wrap on Config! It was so great to see so many folks that I’ve worked with, admired, hired, managed, led, followed and best of all loved to work and be around in one place. Last year was epic but this year was sublime. And what a delight it was to see Figma’s new design magazine and little ole’ me playing a small part in this community publication! I’m talking about my favorite topic - data. With the pomp and circumstance of LLMs and “look what I can do,” brag of GenAI people are falling silent on the most important part of all this new technology - the data that fuels it. We’re forgetting the labor that goes into collecting, labeling and making data machine ready and the class of people who aren’t getting fairly compensated for this work. We’re forgetting that entire business models are being celebrated right now that use the stealing and appropriating of other’s creative content as their foundation. First there is awarness. Then anger. Now it’s time for advocacy. Here’s a question how can we make AI development for equitable overall all by fairly compensating those unseen data producers who make the AI tree grow? Check it out! I’m Proud to be part of The Prompt, a print and digital zine from @Figma’s Story & Brand Studios exploring the intersection of AI, design, and code, which launched at #Config2024. My Q&A on the power of input in AL and ML is here:

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Wow, spot on… Also consider the complexity of a “design system factory” product intended to offer design system stability to the diverse clientele of a consultancy with vastly unique clients, all with critically important needs. I often describe(d) the design tokens and design system as the CENTER of the tech ecosystem, or at minimum on par with the most critical data APIs. Few were ready for what that would cost. Financially, technically and emotionally. #outofwork

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🎈Pretty colors aren’t good enough. Color needs to do the hard work of balancing brand voice with utility and accessibility. Fortunately there's color tooling to help designers with the complexity of managing contrast across multiple colors, tints and shades. A valuable color tool should allow you to do a couple of things: → Seed your palette with brand colors → Provide sufficient tints and shades with documented accessibility contrast → Generate output that can be leveraged by design and engineering team members 🌈 Genome Color Tool by Kevin Muldoon The Genome Color web app allows you to create custom color scales from brand colors by leveraging recommended tints/shades from proven color systems. The thinking behind the tool is so smart it makes my head spin and the video tutorial provided makes it super easy to use. Writeup: https://lnkd.in/gjAmBJq6 Tool: https://lnkd.in/ggumsweN Figma plugin: https://lnkd.in/gr6B_Cpi 👨‍🎨 Leonardo by Nate Baldwin Leonardo is a web app that allows you to build out multiple color ramps for a uniform theme that share the same contrast ratios. It offers a number of slick visualizations, accessibility options and ways to export everything. There’s even a plugin that allows you to pull your palette directly into Figma. Writeup: https://lnkd.in/gufQhmFT Tool: https://leonardocolor.io/# Figma plugin: https://lnkd.in/g-FFqJuW 🎨 Supa Pallete by Angelo Libero Supa Pallette is an elegant Figma plugin with a paid option. I’ve tested a fair share of Figma plugins, and this one is packed with features and worth the license. Starting with a seed color, the tool allows you to customize WCAG or APCA accessibility contrast scale, export visual color tiles for preview and even generate Figma variables. Tool: https://lnkd.in/ge92ND2N Figma plugin: https://lnkd.in/gX7sq25U 💎 For as complicated as color can be, we’re lucky to have access to so many resources. Some takeaways our team at Exygy now uses to make color decisions: → Align the team on accessibility guidelines like WCAG or APCA → Meet with designers to find out what Figma tooling and color method, including HEX or HSL, are the most intuitive for them → To ensure adoption, talk with engineering to find out what a valuable output format looks like, whether that’s CSS or tokens I’ve posted about managing color before including more helpful resources: https://lnkd.in/g6E3zYjA #color #ui #design #designsystems #figma #accessibility #branding #color

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Over the years I've tried many approaches to design critiques with the teams I've managed. Without fail these 4 simple principles impact the effectiveness of design critiques greater than anything else when established as ground rules. For presenters: ✦ Describe the problem you're solving ✦ State the target audience* ✦ Specify the feedback you're seeking All of the above can be done in less than a minute, either verbally or in written format. For participants: ✦ Ask questions before comments "I think you should go with blue instead of red" is less effective than first asking "Why did you choose red for this?" The additional context that comes from asking questions will lead to more effective feedback. Design critiques are the easiest and most important thing design teams can do to improve design quality. Alone they are not a silver bullet. But they are the foundation for all other improvements to design quality. If you're not holding regular design critiques (usually weekly), this is step 1 for improving design quality. If you're already holding regular design critiques but not doing the 4 principles above well, this is step 1 for improving your design critiques. Better critiques. Better quality. * "Everyone" is rarely acceptable as the target audience. Even if the feature being presented is intended for everyone, 99% of the time there's a specific segment or archetype you're aiming for. #design #critiques #quality

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Great advice. Remove all friction when sending your portfolio. Keep it simple and remove all restrictions.

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Now that Config is over here's a good recap for design execs:

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Designers - are you being asked to provide measurable proof of how your work impacts business outcomes with metrics? Are you unsure of what to measure, when and how? Being able to assess the impact of your design decisions can not only have a positive effect on your product and end users, but is also a skill increasingly in demand for design roles. Recently, I wrote an article on this very topic, "How design teams can use product data to add value to the business" (https://lnkd.in/gYreMBm9 ). Today I'm excited to announce the release of part 2 on this topic, "6 ways Pendo's design team uses Pendo to add more value to the platform - and the business" (https://lnkd.in/gTgj2dmJ). Check it out! #DesignMetrics #BusinessOutcomes #ProductData #DesignTeams #Pendo

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+1 to all of this, especially being an education major -> graphic designer -> logo/brand designer -> visual designer -> UX designer -> design systems practitioner Spoiler alert: the teaching degree has been the most helpful "role" to date, and every role after that was basically the same (simply with different problems to solve and artifacts to make)

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The greatest challenge of leadership is found in the daily exercise of understanding others as you drive towards reaching desired outcomes.

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In a competitive job market, leveling up your skills is crucial. I highly recommend this course at The Designership - it's a great and inexpensive way to enhance your design abilities. No kickbacks involved. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/eGfV5kXC #Design #SkillDevelopment #CareerGrowth #productdesign

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I don't know when or how it happened, but Config has become one of the major yearly conferences in our industry. Given how much Figma plays a role in the practice, it's common for design system teams to watch with anticipation/excitement/dread for what's coming. In our latest episode, Davy Fung and I discuss the reveals from Config and what that may mean for folks in the design systems practice moving forward. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gRMBzfbJ #designsystems #figma #congfig #podcast

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