judge my 2025 design systems predictions

Hello design system friends! It’s been a minute, hasn’t it? Season two of On Theme is finally here! 🎉

My very first minisode of the entire podcast was some 2025 predictions, and a lot has changed. (Honestly, what was I thinking trying to make predictions in the era of AI? fml) Here’s what I said we’d see in 2025:

1️⃣ AI is changing how quickly we generate artifacts, but not what gets generated.
2️⃣ Generating code from designs is not the way!
3️⃣ You already have a design system and more non-tech companies will build design systems.
4️⃣ We’ll be focusing on specific patterns over foundations.
5️⃣ Your best success metrics are stories, not numbers.

What do you think? Is this what we saw in 2025?

Noelle Lansford joined me to ~~judge~~ recap my 2025 predictions and look back on the trends and themes we saw in design-systems-land last year.

🎧 listen to Season 2 Episode #01, a recap of my 2025 design systems predictions, with Noelle Lansford

And stay tuned, because this one’s a two parter — 2026 predictions are coming next!

On a more meta note: thanks for patiently waiting over the loooong gap between S1’s last episode and now. I had intended to do an entire second season in fall of last year, but between Converge (p.s. you can watch my talk here!) and, well, life just going on life-ing, it didn’t happen. Honestly, trying to record, edit, and release one episode a week was nuts. So this season is quite overdue and I am so grateful for each and every one of you listening and subscribing.

On Theme is officially two, and this year we’re changing it up a bit. You can expect: one interview episode per month, rather than per week, with occasional minisodes in between. I’m also exploring radio-show-call-in style Q&A, video (!), and more. Plus I have a stacked lineup of interviews I can’t wait for you to hear.

I’m also going sponsor free and listener supported. Huge thank you to Sil at Into Design Systems for generously sponsoring my first year; that support made it possible for me to bring this podcast to life.

I’ve gotten some offers for sponsorship that came with strings attached (not Sil, who is the sweetest soul in the entire tech industry), and I passed: you won't hear ads or purchased interviews here. I'm making content for expert design system practitioners, by expert design system practitioners.

I'm not a full-time content creator; this podcast is a labor of love on my nights and weekends. Your monthly payment, no matter how big or small, helps me cover software costs, and hopefully one day pay my incredible guests for their time and knowledge.

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