Learn about design system maturity levels and how to assess where your team stands.
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Design System Maturity Assessment
The Design System Maturity Model helps teams self-assess and understand where they are and where they want to be in order to create an actionable roadmap. This framework provides checkpoints that teams can vote on as strongly covered, partially covered, or not covered at all.
An interesting aspect of these discussions is that different team members may have varying understandings of specific elements, making it a valuable exercise for team alignment.
Interactive diagram showing the progression from basic UI kits to industry-leading public design systems, with key characteristics and capabilities at each level
Use freely in FigJam, Miro, or Slides – just keep credit: Infa.ai
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Team Compositions and Complexity Evolution
Team structures and complexity increase with design system maturity:
Level 1 - UI Kit: Mostly ad hoc contributions with minimal structure
Level 2 - Design Library: Introduces processes around usage and maintenance
Level 3 - Design System: Multiple disciplines connect together - design, content, engineering, and accessibility
Level 4 - Multi-Product Design System: Utilized across multiple products with design system champions established within each product or portfolio to support implementation
Level 5 - Foundational Design System: Includes product/domain-specific design systems and external contributions from outside the organization
Interactive diagram illustrating various team structures and compositions that contribute to successful design system implementation and adoption
Use freely in FigJam, Miro, or Slides – just keep credit: Infa.ai
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Get the Complete Framework
The Design System Maturity Framework is a work in progress. To access the related checkpoints, how-to guides, and insights from our community events, join our Slack community.
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Design System Maturity Model
The Design System Maturity Model helps teams self-assess and understand where they are and where they want to be in order to create an actionable roadmap. This framework provides checkpoints that teams can vote on as strongly covered, partially covered, or not covered at all.
An interesting aspect of these discussions is that different team members may have varying understandings of specific elements, making it a valuable exercise for team alignment.
Team structures and complexity increase with design system maturity:
Level 1 - UI Kit: Mostly ad hoc contributions with minimal structure
Level 2 - Design Library: Introduces processes around usage and maintenance
Level 3 - Design System: Multiple disciplines connect together - design, content, engineering, and accessibility
Level 4 - Multi-Product Design System: Utilized across multiple products with design system champions established within each product or portfolio to support implementation
Level 5 - Foundational Design System: Includes product/domain-specific design systems and external contributions from outside the organization
The Design System Maturity Framework is a work in progress. To access the related checkpoints, how-to guides, and insights from our community events, join our Slack community.