Design Systems kill creativity. Unfortunately, this is a myth I’ve heard peddled around too often amongst the design community. There seems to be a pervasive idea that using systems to help your work will lead to everything being a homogenous, grey, functional, meh experience. But why is delight of utmost importance when it comes to the products we build? And how can we design our processes to make sure that delight is a key part in what makes your MVPs ‘viable’? From ways we can institutionalise delight via illustration and copy systems, to ways we can make our documentation more delightful, to quantifying the value of making someone smile.

Luke (he/they) currently leads the Design Advocacy team at zeroheight. Before zeroheight, Luke worked for lots of companies starting with M, including Memrise, Mr & Mrs Smith and Microsoft. He hosts the DesignOps Island Discs podcast, and co-organises DesignOps Assembly London, Design Club London and the WDC conference in Bristol. When he’s not shouting about design systems and designops, he is busy raising his 9 year old son, singing in a punk band or telling the world why Josie and the Pussycats is a criminally underrated film.