“Doing it Wrong”
summary
Builds two real design systems: Pantsuit — 55 products in 579 days (initial version shipped in ~6 weeks, single developer model that later forms a Pantsuit Council) and Spacesuit marketing system for Slack (site redesign and component library). Shows concrete mistakes: duplicated Hero/Section components, a generic “panel” that drifts across contexts, and shipping fast causing brittle CTAs. Explains choice not to open‑source Pantsuit because brand abuse and fake‑news misuse of fonts, yet systems see wide use despite technical and social tradeoffs.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (7)
- 0:00Introduction and background
- 3:12Keeping components simple
- 9:58Community vs control in design systems
- 15:05Sharing knowledge through open source
- 24:27Final verdict on doing it wrong
- 25:11Taking the campaign job
- 30:57Q&A on campaign memories
related talks
20mDesign Systems for the Rest of Us
01h 03mDesign System Pitfalls & How to Escape Them
45mStyling Hillary – A Design System for all Americans
28mLet's talk about design systems
30mIt's About Systems
31mDesign for Better Living - From Couture to Uniqlo
40m“Where We Can Go”
37mWhat makes a design system win
