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Design Systems in Practice

Tokens, components and documentation teams adopt.

4.91,204 reviews8,930 learners
Created byIris Calder Updated Oct 2026 English · 6 subtitles 8 hours

What you'll learn

  • Run short interviews and turn notes into clear insights
  • Lay out screens on a grid that does the work for you
  • Pick type and color with contrast and hierarchy in mind
  • Prototype a flow from sketch to clickable in one afternoon
  • Test with five people and report what to fix first
  • Present design decisions so teammates say yes

Curriculum

4 sections · 14 core lessons · 5h 3m
01Why systems4 lessons · 36 min
  • Welcome & the system we'll buildFree preview5 min
  • What a design system is (and isn't)Free preview12 min
  • Auditing the UI you already have14 min
  • Check-in: systems thinking5 min
02Design tokens4 lessons · 1h 26m
  • Naming color, type and spacing tokens15 min
  • Light, dark and brand themes13 min
  • Reading: token naming conventions8 min
  • Project: build a token set50 min
03Components3 lessons · 38 min
  • Anatomy of a good component14 min
  • Variants, states and props16 min
  • Quiz: component APIs8 min
04Docs and adoption3 lessons · 2h 23m
  • Writing docs people actually read12 min
  • Versioning and contribution11 min
  • Final project: ship a mini system2h 0m

Requirements

  • No experience needed: we start from zero
  • A laptop or phone and about 20 minutes a day
  • Curiosity, and a notebook you don't mind messing up

This course is for

  • Curious beginners who learn by doing
  • Career changers building a first portfolio
  • Teams who want a shared vocabulary

Your instructor

Iris Calder

Product designer, ex-lead at a fintech studio

  • 4.9 instructor rating
  • 48k students
  • 4 courses

Iris has designed banking and health apps for twelve years and now teaches the craft behind calm, usable interfaces.

More from Iris

What learners say

1,204 reviews
4.9out of 5
  • 5★81%
  • 4★14%
  • 3★3%
  • 2★1%
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  • Lena Fischer2 weeks ago

    The interview project changed how I work. Short lessons, clear tasks, and Iris answers questions in the community within a day.

  • Daniel Okoro1 month ago

    I switched careers from teaching to UX. The portfolio project from this course got me my first interviews.

  • Hana Sato1 month ago

    Lovely pacing. I would have liked one more lesson on accessibility, but the color module covers the basics well.

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