Approach to DS

How we think and formulate the problem of why we need design systems shapes the way we approach the build

Just image the following:

The number of traffic accidents that happen on these roads is said to be one of the lowest because the rules are pretty simple.

You just move forward depending on the direction you are moving towards.

However, how are cars and people enabled to move so fluidly across countries via these roads?

Some might say it is what they can visually differentiate to be concrete and what is the field. On top of that, it is the white dotted line that runs through the middle that tells you the proportion and where you should be on this road.

This is the approach I think is best for building a design system. The design system is the white dotted lines and the concrete road, allowing for products (who are the cars) to do what they have to do while providing only the necessary constraints to ensure you can effectively drive across the country.

This is a common mistake among a lot of design systems where you build very specifically for one particular use case and context and when the designer requires to use it in some other context, everything starts to fall apart. That is how your "design system" turns into a fossilised style sheet and never to be used again.