Design Systems for Startups: Start Small
You don't need a full design system on day one. Here's what actually matters when you're moving fast.
designstartupsux
Every startup wants a design system like Airbnb or Google. Most startups don't need one.
The mistake I've seen
Teams spend weeks building elaborate component libraries. Tokens, variants, documentation, the works. Then the product pivots. All that work? Wasted.
What you actually need (day one)
- Consistent spacing scale — 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, 48px
- Two font sizes — body and headers
- Three colors — primary, secondary, background
- One button style — yes, just one
That's it. Build everything else as you need it.
The 10 users rule
Don't build a component until you've used it 10 times. Copy-paste until then. Pattern recognition > premature abstraction.
When to scale up
You need a real design system when:
- You have 3+ designers
- You have 5+ engineers touching UI
- Your product has stabilized
- Inconsistency is hurting users
My favorite lightweight tools
- Tailwind CSS — utility-first, scales well
- Figma Variables — sync with code tokens
- Storybook — document as you go
Perfect is the enemy of shipped. Start ugly, iterate often, systematize later.