From Zero to Nowhere: The Design System Detour
Why your early-stage startup might be better off without a design system.
In design circles, it's almost nonconformist to say you don't need a design system. While design systems are lauded as the epitome of efficiency, standardization, and consistent user experience they might just be a spectacular misallocation of resources for a startup in its 0-to-1 phase. Here’s why:
Timing the Investment in Consistency
In the early phase of a startup, the priority is to understand your users and deliver immediate value. Investing in a full blown design system too soon may not offer enough return on investment (ROI) because you're still trying to prove the product's worth and trying to hit product market fit. Once your business matures and the focus shifts from mere survival, and the minimum feature set to growth and feature expansion, a design system becomes a smart investment for standardizing and scaling a consistent user experience.
Figma Files Don't Pay Bills
Do customers pay you for well-organized Figma files? No, they don't! Time spent fussing over the perfect labeling system for your components is time not spent on user interviews, talking to potential customers, or iterating your MVP based on real-world feedback. In calculating and understanding the existential risks of your product or company, a pretty Figma file ranks woefully low. Focus on what genuinely moves the needle: make something people want first.
That said, I'm not advocating for chaos. Keep your Figma files organized enough and consider using existing component libraries with engineering counterparts. Remember, a Figma file is not a design system. A true design system serves as a common language between design and engineering, encompassing not just a Figma file but also a mirrored codebase. The key takeaway: be pragmatic. Imperfect layers or incomplete component coverage in code are acceptable trade-offs when you're still defining your product. Keep your eye on what really matters.
The Illusion of Efficiency
"Efficiency" is often touted as the main reason for implementing a design system, particularly the promise of saving time in the long run. But consider this: if your team consists of just one or two founding designers, communication lines are already at their simplest.
In this early stage, the role of design isn't merely to create a visual blueprint of the product or churning out UI components for engineering. It’s about deeply understanding your customers, quickly iterating prototypes to solve their problems and creating a brand that resonates. Design should act as the vital connective tissue between your business goals and customer needs.
If you haven't reached product-market fit or clearly defined what your 0-to-1 focus should be, investing in a design system isn't streamlining your process — it's adding unnecessary complexity.
The Danger of Premature Optimization
In the spirit of the Onion Theory of Risk (a theory suggesting a layered approach to tackling risks), you need to be laser-focused on core risks. Premature optimizations are deadly distractions. If you find that your focus is turning towards design inconsistency due to multiple designers or engineers, then the real issue isn't inconsistency — it's likely that you've assembled the wrong team in the first place. Inconsistency in design is often a symptom, not the disease. Having a single founding designer simplifies things, unifying design much like having a CPU and memory on a single chip optimizes processing. If you're grappling with multiple designers and a sprawling engineering team, the solution might not be a design system but rather a leaner team. Smaller teams often move faster, produce higher quality work, and achieve better natural consistency.
Design systems are a luxury, not a necessity, in the high-stakes, resource-crunched world of 0-to-1 startups. They aren't the first risk layer to peel off. This is not the stage to worry about pixel-perfect reusable card components or design tokens. It's the stage to validate your product idea, acquire your first users, or perhaps figure out your revenue model.
The quicker you grasp this, the sooner you can divert your valuable time and energy toward solving foundational challenges. And make no mistake, mastering this focus is what truly earns you a seat at the decision-making table as a designer, but that's a conversation for another day.