"I needed to see if I was just imagining this, so I analysed 256 design system roles from two sources: the Into Design Systems Jobs Directory and a year's worth of postings in the Design Systems Slack community, which has over 28,000 members. The split was consistent across both: 70% design-focused, 26% engineering-focused. A 3:1 ratio. Breaking that down: of the 228 individual contributor roles, design outnumbered engineering 170 to 58. Again, nearly 3:1."
"Design systems need great designers. A well-crafted Figma library creates shared language, speeds up design iterations, and aligns teams around common patterns. That's real value. But that value has a ceiling. A Figma library, no matter how comprehensive, primarily helps designers. The moment a project moves to implementation, engineers are translating those designs into code. Every time. For every feature. Across every team."
Analysis of 256 design system roles shows a persistent 70% design-focused versus 26% engineering-focused split, roughly a 3:1 ratio. Of 228 individual contributor roles, designers outnumber engineers 170 to 58, and recent job postings continue the trend. Figma libraries provide shared language, speed design iterations, and align teams, but they primarily benefit designers and have a ceiling. Implementation requires engineers to translate designs into code for every feature and team. The largest, recurring value emerges when patterns live in production code so updates and accessibility improvements propagate centrally across all screens.
Read at Shaun Bent
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