J a m e s Ger lach
Kill “Design
System”
Design
Kill “Design
System”
Design
Pastel prisons. Boho squiggles.
That one sans-serifs whispering “you’re safe here, just like every other startup you’ve already forgotten.”
Design elements placed with mechanical grace...not to move people, but to satisfy the architecture of a Figma project. Blech.
It’s SaaS sameness. Everything is quirky™.
It’s branding as sedation.
The word “delight” has become a hollow cheer. Pistachio boxes here, apricot blobs there. Just ornamentation…the equivalent of an algorithmically generated lo-fi playlist. Zzzzz
Strategic Beige as inadvertent camouflage.
We need conviction, not style guides in sheep’s clothing. In texture and tension. Made of weird, real, contradictory, breathing things.
We need design contoured by the product ∔ the people behind it...the arguments, the obsessions, and the sparks that make it real.
A little more rough around the edges.
Clarity.
Give the world marks that M E A N S O M E T H I N G...not vibes or “visual interest.” Interrogate everything.
Soon, anything will be buildable. Products even cheaper and more forgettable. Are we there yet?
What'll matter most is taste and judgment. Winning ideas will proudly carry the fingerprints of their creators, cutting through with something human and real (human).
Burn the Figma templates and summon expressions DEEPLY rooted in how products help and who they're from. Declarations, not decorations.
Kill “design system” design. Do it.
Kill Artisanal Experience Design Hell
Not every product needs a soul.
Artisanal design worships originality over clarity. It forgets that being human often times means being understood.
We don’t always need a voice. Sometimes we need silence and predictability. Peace.
Design systems let creativity scale.
Not every interface should carry the "fingerprints of its creator.” Sometimes universality IS the virtue.
The best systems aren’t devoid of humanity, they’re full of invisible choices that quietly serve it. They let teams move fast AND stay aligned. They make room for MORE voices.
The pastel boxes, the soft corners, the friendly typography...maybe they’re not hollow. Maybe they’re welcoming.
Strategic Beige? Neutrality can be a useful tool.
As the market is flooded with fast and cheap ideas, maybe the winning ones won’t be the most expressive. Maybe they’ll be the ones that most easily adapt in real-time, quietly grafting into someone else’s life.
Design that knows when to get out of the way is good, actually.
Kill Artisanal Experience Design hell.