Design systems have become an essential part of modern web development and design. They help teams create consistent, scalable, and maintainable products. But how do we approach learning about design systems? How do we start building one?

The title of this post might seem provocative, but it’s actually a mindset that can help us learn and improve. When we treat our first attempts like trash - meaning we don’t get too precious about them - we free ourselves to experiment, make mistakes, and ultimately learn more effectively.

Tools like Figma help you create pictures of software. These pictures help provide guidance as we write software, but the pictures themselves end up in the trash after the software is built.

This requires a subtle, but very important, shift in how we think about design systems: the artifacts we create along the path to a shipped product are temporary and disposable.Treat It Like Trash — Let’s Learn Design Systems