TL;DR
- Most teams build design systems too early.
- Wait for 3+ surfaces sharing UI before formalizing.
- A shared token file beats a full system on day one.
The shortest path to a design system is usually to not build one yet.
The three signs it's time
- You have three or more surfaces sharing UI
- Design and engineering disagree on tokens weekly
- Onboarding new engineers to your UI takes more than a day
