Unlocking Accessibility, Boosting Contributions, and Coding Clever
Issue #29
Design systems aren’t just about components and tokens—they’re about the decisions, patterns, and workflows that bring them to life. This week’s lineup is packed with hands-on guidance, from improving accessibility at scale to smoothing contribution processes, from smart token math in Swift to rolling your own CSS features in TypeScript. Whether you’re building, governing, or just plotting your next system move, there’s something here to sharpen your craft.
In this issue
📚 Featured Articles
📰 Published in the Last Week
✨ Inspiration
🎗️Support us
📝 Closing Thoughts
📚 Featured Articles
Must-read articles at www.designsystemscollective.com.
💡 Have an article to share? Submit it here!
Unlocking Accessibility through Design Systems — Jon Daiello.
Why We Like It: Practical, implementation-focused coverage of accessibility within design systems — links patterns, docs, and governance to actual accessibility outcomes, which is a top concern for teams shipping at scale.
Don’t Miss: the section showing how tokens + component rules enforce accessible colour/contrast and the contribution workflow for accessibility fixes.
Design System Contribution Process — Pegah Ghoghayi.
Why We Like It: A concrete, step-by-step contribution model (templates, PR flow, review gates) — directly useful for any org trying to scale governance and grow cross-functional contribution.
Pro Tip: Use the contribution checklist and the suggested PR template to speed onboarding of new contributors.
Smarter Design Tokens in Swift — With Arithmetic Expressions — Raul Menezes.
Why We Like It: Deep, practical engineering guidance on expressing tokens in Swift with arithmetic — excellent for teams that need token computation/derivation and want a robust, code-first approach.
Pro Tip: The arithmetic-expression approach for computed tokens (save duplicated values and support dynamic spacing/colour math).
How I Built CSS’s light-dark() in TypeScript — Rob Hameetman
Why We Like It: A clear, hands-on engineering walkthrough that shows how to polyfill/implement modern CSS features in JS/TypeScript — very actionable for front-end teams managing theming in component libraries.
Don’t Miss: the implementation walkthrough and small test harness example that you can adapt to your codebase.
📰 Published in the Last Week
To stay updated on the latest articles. We share every new article on our LinkedIn page.
👉 Crafting SwiftUI Components for a Scalable Design System by Muhammad Osama
👉 Preparing for the Future Squad: How to Get Ready for the Shift from UX to AX by Angus Ewing
👉 From Atomic to Subatomic: Brad Frost on Design Systems, Tokens, and the Human Side of UI by Shane P Williams
👉 The Importance of Component-Based Design Systems in Engineering and Design by Christabel Akpoguma
👉 The Rise of the Self-Aware Design System by Carina B. Velasquez
👉 Your Hero = Your Selling Point. How to Get It Right by Aleksandra Smith
👉 Why Mobile-First Design Is the Game-Changer Every Digital Product Needs in 2025 by Madhesh P
👉 Built to Scale, Not Just to Ship: How I Designed a System that Thinks Before I Do by Deepika Mangla
👉 Beyond Monoliths: How Composable Design Systems Are Revolutionizing UI at Scale by Mageswari S
👉 Design Systems for Beginners: Start With These 5 Elements by Niamh O'Shea
👉 Design Isn’t Disappearing by Matt Lambert
👉 Smarter Design Tokens in Swift — With Arithmetic Expressions by Raul Menezes
👉 How to Become Caravaggio Without Alarming the Orderlies or the Vatican by Anastasiya Akulenko
👉 Design System Contribution Process by Pegah Ghoghayi
👉 Mastering the Art of Stakeholder Management by Pegah Ghoghayi
👉 How I Built CSS’s light-dark() in TypeScript by Rob Hameetman
👉 How to Prove You Can Build a Design System — Even If You Never Have by Ana Bramson
👉 Unlocking Accessibility through Design Systems by Jon Daiello
👉 Start Here Before You Start a Design System by Aarzoo Khare
👉 Designing the Future: The HexaGrid Multi-Dimensional Design System for Multi-Language, Multi-Mode by Claus Nisslmüller
✨ Inspiration
Are you constantly searching for innovative ideas and fresh insights in design? Look no further! Here’s a curated list of intriguing content that has sparked our interest lately:
🔗 The Next Shift in Design Systems Isn’t a Tool, It’s Context
Discover how context, not tools, is redefining the future of design systems with TJ Pitre's unique perspective.🔗 UX Design Perspectives
Vitaly Friedman shares intriguing insights into user experience design principles and evolving practices.🔗 Design Tokens Language Server
Benny Powers introduces a groundbreaking language server that simplifies the use of design tokens.🔗 Managing a Design Team
Explore the nuanced challenges and strategies in leading a successful design team.🔗 Design System Component Audit and Linting
Check out this Figma widget for auditing and improving your design system components.
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📝 Closing Thoughts
The beauty of design systems is that they’re never “done.” There’s always a new angle to explore—whether that’s rethinking accessibility, making contributions easier, or finding new ways to express design logic in code. My challenge for you this week: pick one small idea from these articles and try it out in your system. Small changes compound faster than you think—kind of like design tokens, but for your process.
Shane P Williams — Founding Editor
Design Systems Collective