Exploring current understandings of ‘design systems’: Toward a conceptual framework

Design systems are foundational in the design of user experience (UX)
across platforms and products. Although design systems have become pervasive in
design practice, the term remains ambiguous due to multiple definitions and
conceptualizations. The lack of a shared definition can lead to misunderstandings
and ill-aligned uses of design systems in practice, vulnerable to the same issues of
parallel activities and inconsistencies that design systems are meant to prevent.
This paper reviews the concept from the term’s origin in design theory and into its
current practice and proposes a new frame of reference for researchers and
practitioners, focusing on improved terminological clarity and consistency. The
main contribution is a conceptual framework of elements, properties, and agents
as features always present in a design system. The paper discusses this framework
as a resource in design research and practice.