Taking your design system further in the new year
As the new year is well underway, some teams might be looking to start or revamp their design system. Obra founder Johan takes a look at different paths teams can take to get to better design.
In this blog post, we provide five ideas to take your design system further.
Documenting design patterns
Many design systems list components, but there is no guidance on how to use them. An idea to take a design system further is to document the relationships between components and how to use them.
Improving the link between design and code
Some people say a design system only exists if there is a coded variant of the design components. I tend to agree: a design system is meant to be a living, breathing thing, and nothing keeps it alive more than code implementation and being used in production projects.
Check out our shadcn kit and specifically the new 1.4.0 release, where we provide a plugin to do exactly this.
Providing an easy experimentation environment to prototype features with AI
Many development environments are complicated to set up, while to prototype features all you really need is HTML, CSS and vanilla JavaScript tied to the design system.
Providing a friendly environment to prototype new features with AI can be an amazing way to gain speed in development teams.
Consider whether you really need tools like Storybook and Zeroheight
Many design systems teams tend to take a tool-heavy approach without actually having a functioning design system in place. Consider whether your supporting documentation can be a simple static website instead of investing in all kinds of tools.
Especially with AI tools in mind, it’s rather easy to whip up documentation sites with prompts, instead of paying a SaaS subscription for something that is essentially just a highly specific CMS.
Look into a better token architecture
With Figma’s recently released design token export as well as the Figma MCP server capabilities in the back of your mind, teams should look into improving their token setup.
The more data that an agentic AI can read from your design file, the closer it will match the implementation.
Do you need help with your design system in 2026? We're helping organisations get their design systems to the next level. Let's talk about your project!
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As the founder of Obra Studio, Johan's mission is to help software companies get to the next design level. He’s forever looking for the perfect balance between aesthetics and usability.