| name | design-system-at-scale |
| description | Use when scaling a design system across multiple products, brands, or teams. Covers ownership, governance, contribution model, and the platform-team pattern.
|
Design System At Scale
At scale, the design system is a platform product, not a designer's side project.
Ownership
Dedicated team (1-5 people). Includes designers + engineers + ops. Treats the design system as a customer-facing product (customer = product teams).
Governance
RFC process for major changes. Versioning (semver). Deprecation policy with timelines.
Contribution model
Product teams contribute via RFC + PR. Core team reviews + maintains. Both sides benefit.
Versioning
Major (breaking changes), minor (additive), patch (bug fixes). Deprecation = 1 major version warning.
Communication
Weekly office hours. Slack channel. Release notes. Roadmap shared with product teams.
Common mistakes
Design system as a designer side project (drift). No deprecation policy (breaking changes everywhere). No contribution model (product teams fork). No clear ownership.
Where this fits in X3 Compass
Applied across the X3 Compass design system.
