Design system
Description
A design system goes beyond color palettes and UI kits. It includes the principles, guidelines and rationale that define how a brand expresses itself visually and interactively. Each element – from buttons and forms to animations and typography – follows a unified design language that reinforces brand identity and improves usability.
Most design systems contain several core elements: Principles (beliefs and standards); Guidelines (documentation on usage and accessibility); Design tokens (atomic design values); UI components (reusable design patterns); and Tools and utilities (code snippets and resources).
A strong design system helps organizations maintain a consistent user experience (UX) as they expand globally, launch new digital products and localize for different markets. When integrated with a Content Management System (CMS) like Tridion, it also ensures that design and content evolve together – providing both structure and flexibility for teams to deliver cohesive digital experiences.
Example use cases
- Digital experiences: Developing consistent digital experiences across websites, apps and portals.
- Collaboration: Streamlining collaboration between design, development and content teams.
- Governance: Enforcing accessibility and localization best practices within a unified design language.
- Scalability: Scaling design and UX for global brands or multi-market websites.
- Publishing: Integrating structured content and design patterns for modular publishing.
Key benefits
RWS perspective
RWS helps global organizations unify their design and content ecosystems through Tridion. By connecting structured content, design systems and localization workflows, we help brands create experiences that are both globally consistent and locally relevant.
Our Human + Technology approach ensures that design systems don’t just look good – they work well everywhere. By combining intelligent automation with human creativity, RWS helps enterprises deliver cohesive, accessible and scalable digital experiences that adapt seamlessly across markets.