I joined Stash in November 2023 and became the design systems lead soon after. My role was to maintain the growth and integrity of Stash Design Systems (SDS) alongside a lean team of Android, iOS, and web developers.
SDS was created by a small team of engineers and the original design systems lead with minimal input from other designers within the org. At the time, designers were mostly relying on adhoc components that followed a less cohesive system. The transition from that to a robust SDS was disorienting and ultimately led to team-wide frustration.
Lack of familiarity
Designers were expected to jump into major projects soon after onboarding, limiting their bandwidth to gain familiarity with SDS. Further compounding the issue was SDS’s inherent complexity. SDS relied on Figma as a source of truth for designers and engineers, and so utilized workflows that many designers were not used to.
Stash relied on a small team of 5 to manage and evangelize SDS from the beginning, creating a culture of dependence. Despite having a number of projects under our belt, most of our time was spent reviewing designers’ work or educating other teams.
The general misuse or misunderstanding of SDS made it difficult to maintain its integrity and get buy-in from other teams.
Adopting SDS and its workflows was difficult for designers because they were largely developed in a vacuum. Designers required not only familiarity with the system, but a system that was workable for them. This meant that SDS as we knew it had to change, and that began with dedicated education and support.