Design System as a Service: The Scalability Engine You Need
In 2017, it became clear that software development was taking over the world, while design was taking over software development.
That prediction has been fully realized. Today, User Experience (UX) is the brand. The digital interface is the product. However, as companies scale, the very drivers of their success often become a source of chaos.
More Than a UI Kit: The Real Business Case for a Design System
Teams operate in silos. Developers build the same button in ten different ways. Designers create three slight variations of the same color. Websites, apps, and internal tools look like they were built by entirely different companies.
This isn’t just chaos or disorganization. It is a cost. It is called Design Debt and Technical Debt, and it is taking a toll on digital products.
The solution isn’t just another Figma file, framework, or template. It is a Design System.
What is a Real Design System (and What It Isn't)
Let's be clear: a Figma or Sketch UI kit is not a Design System.
A UI kit is a static file. It’s a collection of pictures of components.
A real Design System is a living, breathing product that serves your other products. It’s a single source of truth that bridges the gap between design and engineering. As the diagram shows, it is comprised of three essential parts:
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Design: The visual foundations. This includes colour palettes, typography, spacing, and the UX guidelines for how components should behave.
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Code: A robust library of production-ready, reusable, and version-controlled components (e.g., in React, Angular, or Web Components) that developers can import directly.
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Documentation: The "how-to" manual. This is the most critical and often-neglected part. It explains why components are designed a certain way, how to use them, and when to use them.
A UI Kit is a blueprint. A Design System is the factory and the processes that produce quality-assured, pre-fabricated parts.
The Hidden Costs of Chaos: Life Without a System
When you don't have a single source of truth, every team invents its own. This creates a ripple effect of inefficiency that drains your budget and frustrates your talented team.
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Brand Fragmentation: Your brand appears inconsistent, unprofessional, and untrustworthy.
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Wasted Resources: Your engineers are spending 30% of their time building basic components that have already been built by another team.
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Slowed Time-to-Market: Product launches are delayed because every new feature requires starting from scratch.
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Massive Technical Debt: Your codebase becomes a bloated, unmaintainable mess of duplicate, inconsistent code, making bug fixes a nightmare.
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Poor User Experience: Users become confused and frustrated by interfaces that behave differently across your ecosystem.
The ROI: A Calculation You Can't Afford to Ignore
Management Teams and Business leaders often ask, "What is the ROI of a Design System?" But the real question is, "What is the cost of not having one?"
Let's use a simple, conservative model (inspired by the work at DxD.pt) to illustrate the waste.
The "One Component" Calculation:
Let's say a single team needs a new "date-picker" component. The process involves:
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Design (research, design, iteration): 8 hours
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Development (build, test, integrate): 12 hours
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QA & Review (bug fixes, accessibility checks): 4 hours
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Total Time per Component: 24 hours
Now, let's say you have 4 different product teams in your company. Without a Design System, they will all build this component (or a variation of it) themselves.
24 hours x 4 teams = 96 hours of work.
If your average blended hourly rate for design and development teams is 50€/hour:
96 hours x 50€/hour = €4,800
That is €4,800 of duplicated, wasted effort for one single component.
Now, multiply that by the 50-100+ components in a typical application (buttons, forms, cards, modals, headers...). The cost isn't just high, it's a strategic liability.
The ROI of a Design System comes from eliminating this waste. By building the component once in the central system (costing, say, 30 hours for robust quality), you save (96 - 30) = 66 hours on the very first pass. The component is then free for all future projects, accelerating development forever.
Core Principles & Workflow: How a System Breathes
A Design System isn't a one-off project; it's a continuous process built on four principles:
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Consistency: One source of truth for all teams.
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Reusability: Build once, use everywhere.
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Scalability: Add new products and features without adding chaos.
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Governance: A clear process for how the system is managed, versioned, and contributed to.
This "governance" is the workflow. It defines how a new component is requested, approved, built, documented, and released. Without this, the system becomes outdated and adoption fails.
How DXspark Can Help: Design System as a Service (DSaS)
A Design System requires a dedicated, multi-disciplinary team of designers, engineers (UI/front-end), and technical writers.
For most companies, this is a massive distraction from their core business. This is why we created our Design System as a Service (DSaaS).
We don't just "build and hand off" a static file. We become your dedicated Design System team.
Our DSaaS model is a continuous partnership. We work alongside your teams to:
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Build & Co-create: We structure your system from the ground up—foundations, tokens, components, and usage rules.
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Integrate & Maintain: We ensure the system is cleanly integrated with your tech stack and maintained over time.
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Govern & Evolve: We run the "design ops" and front-end management, ensuring the system remains a living, usable, and relevant product that evolves with your business.
You get all the benefits of a world-class Design System—consistency, speed, and scalability—while your teams stay 100% focused on delivering value to your customers.
It's time to stop rebuilding and start scaling.
Read the article on marketeer.sapo.pt
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About the author
André Mira