If: How we build design systems at If

Today, more and more development is done in tight relation with designers and UX-designers, triggering the need for a design system that is tightly coupled with both design and code. Until recently, communication has gone one way, from the designers to the developers. This talk covers the process that we developed to ensure that the conversation around a design system runs in both directions, between design and development. We will cover generation of preprocessor styles with design tokens, generating Sketch files for the designers and how we generate our design systems continuously. We will also discuss the value that If has gained from adopting design systems, explain how we create clear and understandable documentation, give examples of how we prioritize the needs of the end-users and the design systems users, and show how we keep our designs and our code accessible.