Patterns in language and language in patterns. – Ellen de Vries – Medium

Why your design system should include content | Clearleft

Rachel makes the case for integrating content design patterns into component libraries:

Instead of content design systems and visual design systems existing in isolation, the ideal is one design system that accommodates everything, marrying the content and design together in the way it will actually be used and experienced.

Patterns Beyond Context · Matthias Ott – User Experience Designer

If we describe patterns also in terms of content, context, and contrast, we are able to define more precisely what a specific pattern is all about, what its role within a design system is, and how it is defined and shaped by its environment.

“Content & Display Patterns,” an article by Dan Mall

A really terrific article from Dan on building pattern libraries. In summary:

1. Naming things is hard,
2. Separation of content and presentation is A Good Thing.

There are some really good insights here into getting just the right level of abstraction for a component—not too tightly tied to a specific visual display, but also not too tightly tied to a specific kind of content type:

When thinking about patterns, content strategists are primarily thinking about Content patterns, designers are primarily thinking about Display patterns, and front-end developers are responsible for bringing the two together.

(And it’s great to see Charlotte’s excellent article get a shout-out in the “Related reading” section at the end,)

Responsive typography and its role in design systems | Clagnut by Richard Rutter

Okay, if you weren’t already excited for Patterns Day, get a load of what Rich is going to be talking about!

You’ve got your ticket, right?

Pattern Wise, System Foolish

A library of UX components is one common part of a design system, but the system itself is something bigger. A good system is also a shared set of strategies for solving visual and interactive communication challenges, a playbook rather than a script.

I like this way of putting it:

The problem is that treating a design system as a pantry full of widgets is, in and of itself, a failure of both craft and imagination. Think of it like a language: if a writer’s only engagement with it is grabbing words from the dictionary and heaping them together until “message” is achieved, things are going to suck. Language is more than a bag of words.