Design system maturity models are key to understanding where you're at

Design System MaturityLEVEL 1 UI kit A single file to reference – basic visual alignment Styles Components LEVEL 2 Design Library Processes form around the library – a team starts maintaining it Usage Analyti... LEVEL 1 UI kit A single file to reference – basic visual alignment Styles Components LEVEL 2 Design Library Processes form around the library – a team starts maintaining it Usage Analytics Governance Practices Design Language Usage Guidelines Pattern Library LEVEL 3 Design System Design, code, and other disciplines are connected into one system Dedicated DS team Product Adoption Tracking Accessibility Built-in Regular Office Hours Built-in Content Strategy Design Tokens Component Status Page Component Management Shared Vocabulary Motion Guidelines Research Insights Release Notes LEVEL 4 Scaled Design System Usage across multiple products and platforms Multi-product Support Deviations Management Usage Examples Bank Release Management Dependency Management Living Roadmap Internal GTM Strategy Branching Strategy Design System Champions Advanced Theming Localization Capabilities Contribution Model Automated Tests & CI/CD Visual Regression Testing Linters LEVEL 5 Public Design System Industry-leading innovation & influence Product/Domain specific Design Systems Public Roadmap Versioned Documentation External Contributions Org-wide adoption metrics Advanced Enablement Multi-platform support Community Engagement Dedicated Support Open-source Custom Tools Dynamic Personalization Public Research Studies Community Resources Certification Programs Internal SSO Access MCP servers DS Assistants Third-party Integrations

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There are many design system maturity models out there, but what are they? In a nutshell, design system maturity models help you measure where you're at versus where you're going, and what's appropriate for your scale. It helps designers communicate their needs and user needs to stakeholders, including leadership, engineering, and marketing teams.

My favorite model so far is Infa.ai's design system maturity model based on detailed outcomes. It breaks things down into stages from basic starting point to team shared resources to scale across multiple resources, teams, and projects.

I also like the design system maturity model from Marcelo Sumers and John Gully which is framed more around responsibilities. It goes from inconsistent to static, manual, automatic, and finally governed.

There's also Sparkbox's design system maturity model based on adoption. How many stakeholders are using your design system? Is it company wide, or just a few people?

Design system maturity can be measured in many ways, but my favorite method is by measuring outcomes.

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About the author

Brandon is an engineer who loves leading, planning, designing, growth and analytics.

Five books everyone should read:

Are Your Lights On, The First 90 Days, Elements of Persuasion, Humans vs Computers, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

Favorite quotes:

  • Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.
  • If a park ranger warns you about the bears, it ain’t cause he’s trying to keep all the bear hugs for himself.
  • A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
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