Zeroheight Design System: Full Guide

Design systems aren't just a trend — they're a response to the evolving complexity of digital products. Today's platforms vastly differ from those of the past, and they demand agile collaboration between design and development teams. Design systems streamline this process.

At UI/UX agency Arounda, we know how to keep design documentation in order using Zeroheight. Let's discuss the most common challenges in system design, reasons to choose Zeroheight, and best practices to keep in mind when creating documentation.

The Common Challenges of Design Systems

Design systems come with their fair share of challenges, many of which revolve around communication, metrics, and organizational involvement:

• Ensuring consistency across a range of products and platforms can be challenging. Design systems aim to provide a unified approach, but maintaining this consistency requires ongoing effort and attention to detail.
• Digital products evolve rapidly, driven by technological advancements and changing user preferences. Design systems must be flexible enough to accommodate these changes while still providing stability and coherence.
• Design systems involve multiple stakeholders, including designers, developers, product managers, and teams from different business areas. Collaboration and ownership need to be carefully managed to ensure everyone's needs and perspectives are considered.
• As companies grow and diversify their product offerings, design systems need to scale accordingly. This requires careful planning and architecture to accommodate growth while maintaining efficiency.
• Introducing a design system to a team or company requires education and onboarding efforts. It's crucial to ensure everyone understands its purpose, benefits, and how to use it effectively. It may be time-consuming and challenging, especially in larger organizations with diverse skill sets.
• Design systems often involve complex technical components, such as libraries, style guides, and code repositories. Their practical implementation requires technical expertise and coordination between design and development teams.
• Design systems need ongoing governance and maintenance to stay effective and up-to-date. This includes managing updates, resolving conflicts, and ensuring alignment with evolving business goals and user needs.

Solving the challenges of implementing and maintaining design systems requires careful planning, communication, and ongoing stakeholder commitment. We will discuss how to minimize the risks later, but first, let's consider: what is Zero Height? It's time to overview this promising and user-friendly tool.

What Is Zeroheight?

Zeroheight is revolutionizing the design systems documentation landscape with its intuitive platform. It allows teams to effortlessly build comprehensive knowledge repositories by providing a seamless ability to aggregate and access critical data. Its user-friendly interface ensures teams can easily navigate the information available.

What sets Zeroheight apart is its unparalleled integration capabilities with leading design and development tools like Figma and Storybook. By seamlessly linking these tools to documentation, you ensure that every update and iteration is accurately reflected in real time.

Zeroheight offers a centralized repository where teams can access the latest documentation and stay up-to-date on current developments. It promotes collaboration, simplifies workflows, and ensures project consistency. That means Zeroheight goes beyond the traditional role of documentation tools. It becomes a catalyst for efficiency and innovation in design and development teams, as they can seamlessly create exceptional digital capabilities.

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Best Practices of Creating Design Documentation with Zeroheight

Ever wondered how to streamline your design documentation process for maximum efficiency and clarity? Dive into the best practices and discover how to create comprehensive design documentation to enhance your team's workflow.

1. Discover Usage Patterns

Gather screenshots from different projects and ask team members to describe how each design pattern or component is utilized in your projects:

• Actions. How the pattern/component is used for interactive elements like buttons, forms, or navigation menus.
• Icons. Where and how the pattern/component is employed to represent concepts, functions, or features visually.
• Illustrations. The role of the pattern/component in conveying ideas, storytelling, or providing visual interest within the design.
• Links. How the pattern/component is integrated into hyperlinks, calls to action, or navigational elements to guide user interactions.

By examining these components in various contexts, teams can understand their versatility and identify opportunities for optimization and refinement in design documentation.

2. Establish Correct Usage

Once you've identified the actual usage, categorize the findings and organize them based on their commonalities. This may involve grouping patterns/components by their function or purpose. Encourage team members to vote on their preferred usage for each category, fostering team alignment and discussion.

3. Draft Initial Guidelines

Based on the voting results, draft initial guidelines for each category. For each guideline, answer key questions:

• Consider the purpose behind "why" by assessing if it serves to indicate, respond, or react to something specific. Determine the rationale for its usage.
• As for "how," evaluate if it necessitates a particular approach, conjunction with another component, etc. Ascertain the appropriate manner in which it should be employed.
• In terms of "when," contemplate whether it pertains to a specific requirement, action, post-event scenario, etc. Identify the optimal timing for its application.

Organize these guidelines clearly, ensuring they are easy to understand and reference.

4. Provide Visual Examples

Enhance the clarity of your guidelines by providing visual examples that demonstrate how patterns/components should be used. Look for existing samples from your current project or create annotated sketches to illustrate the guidelines effectively. Visuals make the documentation more engaging and actionable for team members.

5. Establish Dos and Don'ts

Clearly outline the dos and don'ts for using specific components or patterns. Dos serve as reminders of important rules and best practices, while don'ts help prevent common mistakes. Utilize visuals and examples to illustrate proper usage and potential pitfalls, ensuring clarity for future readers.

6. Implement Guidelines

Capture and formalize the guidelines while the ideas and examples are still fresh in your mind. Consolidate the guidelines promptly using Zeroheight or another documentation platform to prevent them from remaining as drafts. This ensures that your documentation is completed and ready for use, avoiding the risk of it being left unfinished.

7. Distribute Documentation

Once the guidelines are finalized in your documentation tool, share the page with your team and broader audience. Utilize communication channels like Slack, Teams, or other internal messaging platforms to inform stakeholders about the progress of your design system. Sharing the documentation fosters collaboration, encourages feedback, and increases awareness of the design system's development.

8. Engage Stakeholders as Ambassadors

Leverage the engagement among stakeholders to promote the design system further. Encourage them to share the newly created documentation with their respective teams. This approach helps expand the reach of the design system, solicits valuable feedback, and familiarizes more individuals with its usage and benefits.

9. Iterate and Repeat

Continuous iteration and improvement are essential for maintaining an effective design system. After sharing the documentation and gathering feedback, repeat the process of refining guidelines, updating documentation, and sharing progress with stakeholders. This ensures the design system remains relevant, adaptable, and widely adopted within your company.

Zeroheight Examples: 5 Design Systems to Consider

In the design systems documentation process, seeking inspiration from other teams is invaluable, whether starting from scratch or refining existing documentation. While exploring references from different companies can provide valuable insights, it's crucial to approach them with a critical mindset, as what works for one team may not work for another. 

Here are some Zero Height examples of documentation.

• Helly Hansen Design System
• Uber Base Design System
• Marketgoo Ola Design System
• Ideagen Helix Design System
• Sunrise Solar Design System

Final Word

Digital product development thrives on iteration, offering endless opportunities for improvement. Design documentation helps to stick to the chosen course and ensure consistency of actions between all interested parties. Try Zeroheights to get all your guidelines and thoughts in order.

And if you need help with the design itself, the Arounda team will be happy to help you. We provide a full range of services — from branding and graphic design to UI/UX design of applications. Contact us to discuss the budget, timelines, and specific solutions for your project.