Design Systems for the AI Era
"Traditional design systems have been great work horses, empowering product makers to craft unified visual and consistent experiences, particularly when it comes to visual styles. You can’t build the future with the tools of the past, however, and as the ground rule for how someone interacts with technology—and the layer that adapts technology to people—a design system must be clear, easy to use, and anchored in a technology’s full potential. With AI, we can craft conversational systems that adapt and understand each of us personally, growing more attuned to our needs, rhythms, and goals over time. That requires a system that accounts for brand new elements like agents, actions, and adaptive controls, none of which a traditional design system does... At Microsoft, the journey to build Copilot and reinvent productivity has laid the groundwork for a design system of the future—one that will transform the role of AI and reshape the very notion of a design system. Steadily emerging is a system of systems that is intelligent and interactive, with a rich, layered understanding. It goes beyond surface aesthetics into something that changes and grows as you do, operating not just through commands, but ongoing and evolving conversations."
Today on the blog, CVP of Design Research Jon Friedman explores the evolution of design systems in an AI-driven world, pushing beyond traditional boundaries to embrace adaptability and intelligence.
🎨: @karansingh