Design Systems Podcast

Feb 04 2025 127 ep. 36 mins 122
Design Systems Podcast artwork

Design Systems Podcast interviews industry leaders and product makers to share best practices and explore the areas where design and development come together.

  Technology
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127. Building a Unified Design System for Instacart’s Multi-Product Ecosystem: Lessons for Success from Miranda Bouck

Feb 04 2025 31 mins  
Send us feedback or episode suggestions. Increasingly, design systems need to support multi-product ecosystems with a diverse array of consumers and stakeholders. This week, Chris Strahl sits down with Miranda Bouck from Instacart to explore the intricacies of managing a multi-faceted design system. Miranda delves into the challenges and strategies of balancing the diverse needs of

126. Scaling Avalara's Design System to Support a Growth-By-Acquisition Strategy

Jan 21 2025 26 mins  
Send us feedback or episode suggestions. Many enterprise organizations face the challenge of scaling their design systems as the scope of product support expands through adoption and acquisition. In this episode of the Design Systems Podcast, host Chris Strahl speaks with Will Rodenbough, Senior UX Designer at Avalara, about the critical role of design systems in enabling scalabili

125. Inside H-E-B’s Digital Transformation: Adriana Morales on Design Systems That Empower Teams

Jan 07 2025 37 mins  
Send us feedback or episode suggestions. In our first episode of 2025, Chris Strahl sits down with Adriana Morales, Design Principal at H-E-B, to explore the evolution, challenges, and triumphs of design systems in organizations at different stages of maturity. Adriana shares her journey from IBM to H-E-B, highlighting how each company’s unique financial priorities and cultural d

124. From Ideas to Impact: Chris Strahl and Evan Lovely on Five Years of Design Systems Innovation

Dec 10 2024 34 mins  
Send us feedback or episode suggestions. In this special episode of the Design Systems Podcast, co-founders Chris Strahl and Evan Lovely celebrate five years of the podcast and reflect on their journey from agency work to building Knapsack. They discuss the evolution of design systems, lessons learned from working with global enterprise clients, and the importance of composability,

123. Adoption, Efficiency, and Value: insights from KickstartDS’s Jonas Ulrich and Daniel Ley

Nov 26 2024 27 mins  
Send us feedback or episode suggestions. In this episode, Chris talks with Daniel Ley and Jonas Ulrich from KickstartDS, a framework designed to simplify design system creation and drive meaningful adoption. They dive deep into what adoption really means, moving beyond metrics like component coverage to focus on efficiency, team morale, and an iterative approach. Drawing on real-wo

122. Creating Cohesion from Chaos: The Role of Language and System Design with Ben Callahan

Nov 12 2024 44 mins  
Send us feedback or episode suggestions. Language shapes the way we think and structure the world we build. On this episode of The Design Systems Podcast, Chris Strahl sits down with Ben Callahan, co-founder of Sparkbox, to explore the critical role of language and communication in team dynamics, problem-solving, and system structures. Ben shares insights on how linguistic choices

121. The Intersection of Urban Planning and Design Systems: Insights from Andii Hei

Oct 29 2024 32 mins  
Send us feedback or episode suggestions. Explore the unique parallels between urban planning and design systems with Andii Hei. Discover how cities and digital landscapes share principles of structure, adaptability, and creative constraints. Andii offers insights into how these connections reveal new ways to think about system design, collaboration, and the evolution of digital exp

120. From Designer to Design System Leader: Insights from Allison Shaw's Career Journey

Oct 15 2024 33 mins  
Send us feedback or episode suggestions. On today's episode of The Design Systems Podcast, Allison Shaw, Director of Design at Adobe, shares insights from her expansive journey in design systems. From her early days modernizing Yelp’s desktop experience to her pivotal roles at Zendesk and Adobe, Allison talks openly about transitioning from a designer IC role to management, the p

119. Rethinking Design Consistency: Debating Tokens vs. Components with ADPs Alice Preisler

Oct 01 2024 32 mins  
Send us feedback or episode suggestions. Are components a necessary part of a design system? In this episode of The Design Systems Podcast, Alice Preisler, the Product Owner of Design System at ADP challenges the idea that all design systems start with a component library. Alice and host, Chris Strahl discuss what starting with documentation and design tokens instead of components

118. Reusability, Collaboration, and Empathy: Catalina Manea on Bridging Design and Development to Build Applications with Design Systems"

Sep 17 2024 25 mins  
Send us feedback or episode suggestions. On today's episode of the Design Systems Podcast, we hear from Catalina Manea, Senior Designer at Spelunk, about the crucial intersection of design and development. Catalina shares her journey from graphic design to product and systems design, providing insights into the importance of reusability, cross-functional collaboration, and empathy