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When should you invest in a design system?

Invest in a design system once coordination cost outweighs the cost of building it: multiple designers or engineers, more than one surface, or a brand you plan to scale.

Refract·Design studio·2026·1 min read
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Signs it is time

You are shipping inconsistent UI, onboarding is slow, or the same components get rebuilt across teams. If a two-person team is shipping a single MVP, a tight set of tokens and a few shared components is plenty for now.