Start With Decisions
A design system is not a folder of pretty components. It is a set of decisions that helps a team design faster without making every screen a new invention.
Tokens and Layout
Use tokens for color, spacing, type, and radius before creating large component libraries. Auto Layout should describe the actual behavior of the component, not just make the canvas look tidy.
Variants
Variants work best when they represent meaningful product states: size, emphasis, disabled, loading, selected, and destructive. Avoid creating variants for one-off visual tweaks.
Team Workflow
Document when to reuse, when to extend, and when to create a new pattern. A useful system makes the common path obvious and the uncommon path explicit.