Why Every Team Needs a Design System (and How to Build One That Doesn’t Suck)

Design systems aren’t just for product teams or engineers, they’re for everyone building the customer experience. That includes marketing, brand, growth, content, and yes, even the team designing your next email banner.

The best design systems act like a shared language. They align teams, reduce rework, and make scaling creative, campaigns, and products a whole lot easier. Whether you're creating a pitch deck, building a SaaS dashboard, or designing a landing page for a seasonal promo, a design system saves time and keeps everything (and everyone) looking sharp.

Let’s dig into why design systems matter, how they support both product and marketing teams, and how to build one that scales and includes accessibility from the start.

What Is a Design System?

Figma says it best: “A design system is a collection of reusable components, guided by clear standards, that can be assembled together to build digital experiences.”

In plain terms: it’s the playbook for how your brand shows up across every experience.

A good design system includes:

• Component libraries (buttons, forms, cards, nav, etc.)
• Design tokens (color, type, spacing, etc.)
• Documentation (how and why to use things)
• Brand voice and tone guidance
• Accessibility standards
• A governance process (who owns it, who maintains it, and how it evolves)

Done right, it becomes your single source of truth for consistent, scalable design whether you're building a dashboard or an ad campaign.

Why Bother With a Design System?

Three words: speed, scale, sanity.

Speed
A mature design system makes teams move faster. Sparkbox found that companies with well-built design systems ship products 47% faster than those without one.

Scale
As your company grows, so do your design needs; from apps, landing pages, email templates, to slide decks, event booths, and business cards. A design system helps you scale without turning every asset into a one-off.

Sanity
Fewer duplicate files. Fewer “Is this the right button?” Slacks. Fewer reviews from five different stakeholders about your font style. Sanity restored.

Design Systems Aren’t Just for Product

Let’s stop pretending design systems live only in the realm of engineers and product designers. If your marketing, content, or brand teams aren’t using your design system, either it’s broken or it was never built with them in mind.

Here’s how marketing and creative teams benefit from design systems:

• Faster Campaign Creation‍
  
  • Launching a promo page or paid ad? Grab pre-built, on-brand components and go. No starting from scratch, no guessing hex codes.
• Consistency Across Channels‍
  
  • Your ads, social posts, landing pages, and emails should all feel cohesive even if they were built by different people. Design systems make that happen.
• Stronger Brand Governance‍
  
  • Everyone’s using the same type scale, grid, and tone of voice. You’re not fielding requests for the 12th version of your logo.
• Built-In Accessibility‍
  
  • When your templates and UI patterns are accessible by default, every campaign is more inclusive without requiring a deep dive into WCAG for every send.

Accessibility Isn’t an Add-On

If your design system isn’t accessible, it’s not finished. Full stop.

According to the CDC, 1 in 4 U.S. adults has a disability. That’s 61 million people.

Your design system should build accessibility in from the start:

• Meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards at a minimum (W3C Guidelines)
• Use semantic HTML and clear ARIA roles in coded components
• Enforce minimum color contrast ratios
• Provide clear focus states and keyboard navigability
• Define accessible typography and tap targets
• Support motion preferences (reduced motion settings)

And don’t just stop at visual design. Content guidelines should include plain language best practices, alt text requirements, and inclusive language rules too.

How to Build a Design System People Actually Use

Here’s a high-level framework to get you started (or reboot what’s collecting dust):

1. Start With Why

What problems is this system solving? Who’s going to use it? What are the success metrics? Align on these questions first before anyone starts building a button.

2. Audit What Exists

What components, styles, and templates are floating around? Identify the inconsistencies (spoiler: there will be many) and use that to inform your roadmap.

3. Build the Foundation (Tokens)

Design tokens are the atomic layer of your system. Define and document:

• Colors (with contrast in mind)
• Typography (scalable and legible)
• Spacing and sizing
• Radius, elevation, motion

These tokens power everything from buttons to banners.

4. Componentize Everything

Build components in Figma; buttons, modals, forms, navigation, cards, CTA blocks, you name it. Include states (hover, disabled, active), variants (sizes, icons), and mobile considerations.

Use semantic, accessible markup from the start. Your devs (and your users) will thank you.

5. Document Like a Human

Don’t write docs just for the design team. Write them for marketers, PMs, engineers, and social media teams too. Good documentation should cover:

• What a component is
• When to use it (and when not to)
• How to use it (and how not to)
• Responsive behavior
• Accessibility features
• Brand voice/tone guidance for copy

6. Make It Easy to Use

If your system feels like a locked vault, no one will use it. Period.

Make sure your components and brand assets are embedded in the tools your teams actually use, like Google Slides, Docs, your CMS, or email platform. Have ready-to-use templates with styles already applied: Google Slides themes, Docs headers, Canva social templates, Creatopy ad sets...whatever fits your team’s workflow.

You should also have a centralized, easy-to-access library for brand assets such as icons, images, logos, color palettes; so everyone can stay on-brand without digging through a maze of folders or pinging a designer.

Bottom line: if people can’t find it, they won’t use it.

7. Build Governance Into the Process

Design systems aren’t set-and-forget. Define how updates get made, who maintains the system, and how requests are handled. A system without maintenance is just...tech debt with prettier buttons.

8. Keep Testing and Evolving

Collect feedback. Watch how teams use it. Iterate. Your brand, product, and customer needs will keep changing and your design system should evolve with them.

TL;DR

A well-built design system:

• Makes teams faster and more consistent
• Aligns product, marketing, and creative
• Bakes in accessibility from the start
• Scales beautifully as your brand grows

Whether you're designing an onboarding flow, building a paid social ad, or launching a microsite, a design system keeps your brand cohesive and your teams focused on the work that matters.

Now go clean up that frankendeck before it gets passed around again.