Create a self-serve, interactive onboarding experience that helps designers understand how to work with your design system, not just what exists. This approach builds confidence through context, examples, and hands-on interaction, reducing reliance on ad-hoc support and repeated walkthroughs.
Use this to onboard new designers, introduce a system for the first time, or support learning as the system evolves.
Steps
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Set expectations
Explain what the system is for, how opinionated it is, and how designers are expected to work with it.
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Structure the journey
Organise onboarding into clear sections such as getting started, foundations, components, and where to get help.
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Show real examples
Use realistic product scenarios to demonstrate how foundations and components are used together in practice.
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Add simple interaction
Include small hands-on tasks so designers can try things themselves rather than just read or watch.
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Keep it current
Update onboarding as foundations, components, or guidance change, and reuse the same approach to introduce system updates over time.