Stephen Hay
Author, Speaker and Creative DirectorCalifornian by birth and Dutchman by choice, {acclaimed author, speaker, and creative director} Stephen Hay has over 25 years of experience in digital design. He has spent these years working on difficult things {involving brand, design processes, design systems, responsive design, and accessibility} in large and complex environments {like government, finance, e-commerce}.
Stephen is known for his content-first approach to responsive design, which he explores in his book "Responsive Design Workflow". Currently, Stephen is Creative Director at Rabobank, where he helps people {make better design decisions}.
Design System Clinic
Design systems as we know them today are good at saying "use these things" and "here's how". They aren't very good at saying "here's how you can create that thing you need that's not in the system and make sure that it 'fits' within the intended design direction." In other words: design systems often don't help you make good design decisions outside of component usage. A governance model and alignment process will.
This goes beyond "system contribution", because not everything that can be created and "fits" the design direction can (or should) become a part of the system.
Should I attend this workshop?
In your organisation, do you:
- Often observe that people need things the design system doesn't provide?
- Notice struggles when designers need to improve existing things within the system
- See a large amount of "one-offs" and other exceptions to design system guidelines
- Miss processes and rituals for review, approval, and escalation of these issues?
If you can answer the above with "yes", then you might find this workshop valuable.
What will I get out of it?
You'll enter the workshop with problems such as the above, where your design system is necessary but insufficient. You'll leave with a governance model and alignment process tailored to your own obstacles. This will probably not be your final version, but will be a solid starting point for trial and iteration in your organisation.
What will the session look like?
We'll dive into the following:
- Where design systems don't deliver: setting boundaries vs pushing boundaries
- How to allow boundaries to be pushed (effectively and responsibly):
- What is an end-to-end governance model?
- What is a design and alignment process?
- What review rituals are needed?
You'll construct a tailor-made governance model and process through exercises focused on:
- How to identify process problems
- Creating an obstacle map
- Inventorying appropriate tools and protocols to apply to your specific obstacles
- Drawing out your model
- Testing your model through roleplay
- Revising and presenting your model