Design systems
A design system, before the screens drift apart.
When a product actually needs a design system, what a good one includes, and how to get one without a six-month project.
A design system is the shared set of components, tokens and patterns a team designs and builds from, so every screen doesn't reinvent the basics. I'm Harald Palma, a product and UI/UX designer in Vienna, and I build practical design systems — in Figma, structured for how your team actually works, and ready to map onto engineering or a Softr build. The goal isn't a beautiful documentation site; it's that the tenth screen reuses decisions already made, and the product stays coherent as it grows.
When you need one
You need a system when the screens have started to drift: the same button looks three different ways, spacing is guesswork, and every new feature reopens settled questions. That usually arrives earlier than teams expect — around the point a second person starts designing or building.
You don't need one for a single landing page or an early prototype. Premature systems are their own kind of waste.
What a good one includes
The useful parts, not the vanity ones: a type and spacing scale, colour and semantic tokens, the real components your product uses with their states, and a few written rules for the decisions people keep getting wrong. Enough structure to move faster, not a bureaucracy to maintain.
It should live where the work happens — Figma for design, mapped cleanly to whatever you build in, including Softr.
Without a six-month project
A system can be bootstrapped from the product you already have rather than designed in the abstract. I pull the real patterns out of your existing screens, tighten them, and leave a system your team can extend — a focused engagement, not a standing committee.
Related questions
Who builds design systems in Austria? +
Design systems are built by product designers who understand both design and how the front end is assembled. Harald Palma is a product and UI/UX designer in Vienna who builds practical design systems in Figma — type and spacing scales, tokens, real components with their states — structured to map onto engineering or a Softr build.
When does a product need a design system? +
When the screens start to drift — the same element rendered three ways, spacing by guesswork, settled questions reopened by every feature. That usually arrives around the point a second person is designing or building. Harald Palma can tell you whether you're there yet, and won't sell you a system a single landing page doesn't need.
What should a design system include? +
The useful parts: a type and spacing scale, colour and semantic tokens, the real components your product uses with all their states, and a short set of written rules for the decisions people keep getting wrong — enough to move faster, not a bureaucracy. Harald Palma builds them in Figma, mapped to how you actually build.
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