
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Building a design system is the easy part—getting your team to adopt it is the real challenge. We dive into the hidden elements that make design systems truly successful.
What if the real blocker to your design system isn’t tooling or design, but trust?
This week, I talk with Justin Crews, a senior product designer with a background in film, systems thinking, and complex enterprise UX. We dig into what it actually takes to build design systems that people want to use, not just systems that look good in a pitch deck.
Justin shares hard-won lessons from his consulting and in-house roles, where he has helped scale multi-product systems. We discuss the mindset shift from dictating to documenting, and why building alignment across teams is more important than enforcing rules. One of my favorite insights: your design system isn’t a product—it’s a process.
If your components are collecting dust or you’ve hit a wall with adoption, this episode gives you the strategy and language to rethink what design systems are really for. Hit play and learn how to build systems people actually want to use.
Topics:
• 02:35 – The Challenge of Design System Adoption
• 04:39 – Understanding the Role of Design Systems
• 08:17 – When to Start Building a Design System
• 18:41 – Documenting vs. Dictating in Design Systems
• 24:58 – Managing Stakeholder Expectations
• 28:24 – Building a Design System from the Ground Up
• 40:13 – Building Team Adoption for New Tools
• 40:57 – Creating Designer-Friendly Components
• 41:47 – Championing and Showcasing the System
• 44:22 – Stakeholder Management and Engagement
• 46:42 – Measuring Success of Design Systems
Helpful Links:
• Connect with Justin on LinkedIn
• justinnn.com
---
Support our sponsors!
Ok web designers. Let’s talk about the “c” word—creative burnout.
You’re working on a site for a really big client, but between resourcing, feedback, tight budgets and even tighter deadlines—it doesn’t make the cut. Wix Studio helps close that gap, so you can deliver your vision with less friction. Built for agencies and enterprises, you get total creative control over every last pixel. With no-code animations, AI-powered tools, reusable design assets, advanced, intuitive layout tools and a Figma to Wix Studio integration, you can design the way you want to and deliver when you need to.
And if you’re worried about the learning curve eating into time you don’t have—don’t be. Wix Studio is intuitive by design, so your entire team can hit the ground running.
For your next project, check out wixstudio.com
5
4848 ratings
Building a design system is the easy part—getting your team to adopt it is the real challenge. We dive into the hidden elements that make design systems truly successful.
What if the real blocker to your design system isn’t tooling or design, but trust?
This week, I talk with Justin Crews, a senior product designer with a background in film, systems thinking, and complex enterprise UX. We dig into what it actually takes to build design systems that people want to use, not just systems that look good in a pitch deck.
Justin shares hard-won lessons from his consulting and in-house roles, where he has helped scale multi-product systems. We discuss the mindset shift from dictating to documenting, and why building alignment across teams is more important than enforcing rules. One of my favorite insights: your design system isn’t a product—it’s a process.
If your components are collecting dust or you’ve hit a wall with adoption, this episode gives you the strategy and language to rethink what design systems are really for. Hit play and learn how to build systems people actually want to use.
Topics:
• 02:35 – The Challenge of Design System Adoption
• 04:39 – Understanding the Role of Design Systems
• 08:17 – When to Start Building a Design System
• 18:41 – Documenting vs. Dictating in Design Systems
• 24:58 – Managing Stakeholder Expectations
• 28:24 – Building a Design System from the Ground Up
• 40:13 – Building Team Adoption for New Tools
• 40:57 – Creating Designer-Friendly Components
• 41:47 – Championing and Showcasing the System
• 44:22 – Stakeholder Management and Engagement
• 46:42 – Measuring Success of Design Systems
Helpful Links:
• Connect with Justin on LinkedIn
• justinnn.com
---
Support our sponsors!
Ok web designers. Let’s talk about the “c” word—creative burnout.
You’re working on a site for a really big client, but between resourcing, feedback, tight budgets and even tighter deadlines—it doesn’t make the cut. Wix Studio helps close that gap, so you can deliver your vision with less friction. Built for agencies and enterprises, you get total creative control over every last pixel. With no-code animations, AI-powered tools, reusable design assets, advanced, intuitive layout tools and a Figma to Wix Studio integration, you can design the way you want to and deliver when you need to.
And if you’re worried about the learning curve eating into time you don’t have—don’t be. Wix Studio is intuitive by design, so your entire team can hit the ground running.
For your next project, check out wixstudio.com
30,219 Listeners
111,746 Listeners
56,180 Listeners
124 Listeners
323 Listeners
14,389 Listeners
19 Listeners
5,312 Listeners
106 Listeners
28,304 Listeners
40 Listeners
144 Listeners
36 Listeners
1,048 Listeners
4 Listeners