5 predictions for design systems in 2025 and beyond

🎙️ On Theme Subscriber Minisode No. 2

Hi design systems friends! Welcome to 2025 🥂 I hope you had a lovely and relaxing holiday break and are feeling ready for another new year.

I couldn't let the new year go by without a few predictions for the future.

I know, it’s kind of cheesy, but I think we’re on the cusp of some big changes. So I tried to distill what I am seeing (and hearing from all the guests I’ve recorded with so far!) into five specific points. (Yawn at inane predictions like “in 2025 we’ll avoid systems that don’t work for our consumers!”)

1️⃣ AI is changing how quickly we generate artifacts, but not what gets generated. It’s not making the good stuff for us yet.

2️⃣ Generating code from designs is not the way!!!

3️⃣ You already have a design system—and this one's a twofer—more non-tech companies will be getting into building design systems.

4️⃣ We’ll be focusing on specific patterns over foundations.

5️⃣ Your best success metrics are stories, not numbers.

Plusssss, you can now text the podcast! In each episode you’ll see a “Text the show” link, so you can send me your thoughts in real-time as you listen. How cool is that? 📲 I’d love to hear your predictions for the new year, ideas and aha moments as you listen, and follow-up questions for guests, so don’t be shy!

(We’re just one week!! away from the season one official launch!)

📊 I'm also so excited to announce that I've teamed up with Into Design Systems for season one of the podcast. Huge thanks to Sil for supporting the show and making this all possible!

Into Design Systems is back with their annual virtual conference on May 28-30, and early bird tickets are 35 percent off until January 15th! Get your tickets ASAP and save $220 (!) and support the podcast at the same time! 🙏🏻

The conference is three days of practical hands-on sessions, showing the what, why, and how of design systems. You'll hear from folks like Nathan Curtis, Romina Kavčič, Cintia Romero, and more, plus you'll get takeaway files and resources, there's introvert friendly discussion in Miro, which is super fun, and live Q& A with the speakers, of course. This year, the conference is really focused on developer handoff, accessibility, multi brand theming, and design system governance. Get your early bird ticket now for just $379, including all the recordings and files to take home, before ticket prices go up on January 15th!

Talk soon!

💓 Elyse

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