design-system-evolution
Design System Evolution
Evolve a system through representative use. The goal is a clearer shared model that supports real consumers, with an understandable cost of adoption.
Establish the pressure to change
Inspect the named pattern, existing component and token definitions, documentation, and representative consumers. Include contrasting uses when they reveal different content, behaviour, platform, or density requirements. Record what is shared, what differs, and which differences are intentional. State the sample; do not imply every consumer was inspected.
Identify the problem before proposing consolidation: repeated workarounds, an API that cannot express a valid use, inconsistent meanings, or a new product requirement. Visual similarity alone is insufficient evidence that two things should share a component. A one-off layout difference may belong in composition rather than a new system primitive.
Preserve working conventions and unrelated components. A proposal request produces a proposal. Implement and migrate only the authorised scope; do not turn a screen correction into a library rewrite.