Design systems are a combination of three entities:
Visual language is what we see.
The framework is a visual language library, its code.
Guidelines are rules for companies and the designer team how things should look and how they should be applied.
We can consider the design system an individual product within any IT product.
Visual language
The visual component of design systems includes many features:
Colors
Fonts
Space
Object Shapes
Icons on the same page
Images
Interactions with clients and services
Animations
UI Components and systems
Sounds
The task of visual language is to convey brand values to the consumer. For example, you can use warm colors and appropriate images to get a homely atmosphere. To give some other brand characteristics, for example, rigor and honesty, use specific fonts and shapes on the platform. Visual language is one factor in how a user remembers a particular product, technology tools, and innovation code. Team of designers should always keep in mind all needs of their clients. With innovation and collaboration with many companies, brands and agencies, they expertise and make the best implementation using different design systems in their collaboration with the client.
Framework
A framework is essentially a visual language code for projects. Thanks to it, all visual tools can be taken from the library and easily applied to all your products.
Let's imagine a simple situation. So, we have one button, "Pay the bill." And here we need to put the same button for another page, and only it will be called "Transfer money."
What if we don't have a framework? Then this button must be created anew, even if copying the existing one. And if we decide to change the button's color, do we have to manually change the color of all such buttons? And if there are dozens, hundreds, or more of such buttons?
Therefore, a centralized library of visual language implementation is needed, which will allow teams and agencies to create and reuse every detail of the product.
Guidelines
For everyone who interacts with the design system to "speak the same language," rules must be developed.
For example, one designer thinks the button is not bright enough and needs to change the hue closer to magenta. The other is sure that the button should be dark red. At the same time, market developers have been arguing for a week about the ideal code for implementing the search form and its efficiency. All this leads to chaos in the company and product.
It would seem that there are many conditions. How to describe everything so as not to get confused by the rules? Describe only what is needed for a particular element:
What is this structure element?
Where is it used?
What tasks does it solve?
Also, you can describe the anatomy of UI components: designate the structure and all the parameters from which they are built.
Applying the data of the design system agency allows you to speed the work process for everyone: brands and agencies. They set a specific framework for the flight of fancy and understand that any change in design systems can affect many screens, brand identity, and user interaction scenarios in the product. This develops a sense of responsibility in every area of work on any, even the smallest, detail of the product.