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Design System contribution is f*king difficult — let’s change it

A tale as old as digital design systems

Ness Grixti
Redesigning Design Systems
6 min readNov 3, 2023

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Before we begin

Depending on your design systems governance model, you’ll have a different relationship with contribution processes. The ones I will focus on in this article are around centralised and hybrid teams and, more specifically, major contributions.

What is a contribution?

Much in the same way the term contribution refers to giving back. A contribution to a design system is a way for those not directly responsible for the system to give back and evolve the system. This can include any number of things, including but not limited to — components, patterns and guidelines.

Why do we need them?

Contributions are an incredible way to get better insight into our product experiences, fill gaps and improve our product overall. This is because our product teams are the ones directly solving customer problems and improving experiences.

So, if something in our system doesn’t suit a team’s needs, a design system should never be a blocker, and it should become an opportunity for a product team to get their hands dirty and do what they do best: build, measure and learn. And why wouldn’t…

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Published in Redesigning Design Systems

Redesigning the way we look at Design Systems — practical tips tricks and lessons to set your system up for success.

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