Design Systems Part 2: Creating the System

Good morning. In this edition:

• ⚡ Design system components

• 🔥 Creating a design system

• 💥 Meta’s new incremental attribution

Design System Components

A fully realized design system typically includes these key components:

1. Brand Book

The foundational document that captures your brand's essence and visual identity. The brand book focuses primarily on the "why" and "what" of your brand identity.

2. Pattern Library

A living collection of UI components and patterns. Pattern libraries focus on the "how" of implementation, often with code snippets and working examples.

3. Documentation

The guidelines that ensure proper implementation. Good documentation turns abstract concepts into practical applications.

Creating A Design System

Building an effective design system requires thoughtful planning:

1. Audit Your Current State

• Document existing design patterns and inconsistencies

• Identify pain points in the current design process

• Catalog components already in use across platforms

• Assess accessibility compliance

• Gather stakeholder pain points and needs

2. Define Core Elements

• Establish design principles that align with brand values

• Create your foundational color system

• Develop typography scales and hierarchies

• Design your spacing and layout system

• Build your basic component library

3. Develop Governance

• Establish ownership and maintenance responsibilities

• Create contribution processes

• Define versioning approach

• Plan for design system evolution

• Document decision-making frameworks

4. Build Buy-In

• Demonstrate tangible benefits to leadership

• Create showcase examples for early adopters

• Develop training and onboarding materials

• Celebrate wins and improvements

• Share success metrics

5. Evolve Continuously

• Regularly review and refine components

• Incorporate user feedback

• Measure adoption across teams

• Benchmark against best practices

• Scale thoughtfully as the business grows

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Even well-intentioned design systems can falter. Watch out for these common issues:

1. Over-Engineering: Creating an excessively complex system that teams find too cumbersome to use. Start with core components and add complexity as needed.

2. Under-Resourcing: Failing to allocate ongoing resources for maintenance and evolution. Design systems are products, not projects.

3. Lacking Executive Support: Without leadership buy-in, design systems often become optional, leading to inconsistent adoption.

4. Rigidity: Systems that can't adapt to changing business needs or evolving design trends quickly become obsolete.

5. Poor Documentation: Even the best components won't be used if teams can't easily understand how to implement them.

Meta’s New Incremental Attribution Feature

Everyone’s buzzing about Meta’s new Incremental Attribution feature. It’s a promising leap forward in measuring lift, but it still leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

Here’s the catch:
Meta defines “incremental conversions” as those that happen after a user views or clicks an ad. But if we’re aiming to isolate true incrementality, anchoring measurement to ad touchpoints muddies the waters. Are we really measuring causality or just correlation?

And when you're forced to choose between All, First, or Both conversions, you’re not just picking a metric — you’re choosing a version of the truth.

✅ Is it useful? Absolutely.
⚠️ Is it transparent? Not yet.

Let’s hope Meta keeps iterating. Because great measurement should clarify your decisions — not complicate them.

MY TAKE:
Don’t just rely on what the platform shows. Zoom out.
✅ Use backend orders
✅ Layer in CRM insights
✅ Run post-purchase surveys
✅ Compare what’s reported vs. what’s real

ICYMI
🔥 Meta quietly rolled out a new Advanced Incremental Attribution column inside Ads Manager. It shows how many of your conversions are classified as incremental — i.e., conversions that wouldn’t have happened without the ad being shown.

📊 You don’t even need to be optimizing for incremental conversions to use this column — making it a great diagnostic tool to start benchmarking your real lift.

👉 To access: In Ads Manager → Customize Columns → Compare Attribution Settings → Select Advanced

This newsletter is for you. What marketing challenges are you facing in your startup journey? Reply directly to this email with your questions or topics you'd like to see covered in future issues.

Until next week,

Adam

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