Building a product without a design system leads to huge design debt

that sometimes will never be repaid

Product designers often work on new projects and know that some stakeholder groups want to launch the product as quickly as possible.

Because of this, many designers ask:

Is it better to create the design system now or wait until we have more time?

My two cents on this topic: If you don't build a clear design system from the moment you start designing the product, you have two options.

• It won't happen.
• After the product is developed, creating the design system will take much more time, effort and money.

If the product team launches the product without a design system, it's a design debt, but not like taking any other design debt. This design debt will often never be repaid due to the "high interest."

My purpose in this article is to spotlight this topic and explain why building a product without a clear design system is a detrimental design mistake.

What is design debt?

You'd like to buy a car that costs 25,000$, but you've got only 10,000$. To buy the car now, you must get a loan from your bank; otherwise, you'll have to wait…