What is a SaaS UI/UX Design System?

UI/UX design systems are aspects and rules that you can use across your user interface.

These systems are important for consistent interfaces and user experiences, and you also need them to maintain a consistent brand.

UI/UX design systems have three areas: 

• A library of UI elements can be used to ensure consistency across the user experience by providing access to the same elements. 
• Responsive design principles: Focus on app responsiveness across multiple devices. 
• Clarity/simplicity: Make the app’s features easy to use and understand.

Some reasons to consider implementing a UI/UX design system in SaaS are: 

• User adoption and retention 
• Customer satisfaction 
• Reducing the learning curve
• Potentially increased sales (though this will also depend on the overall quality of your product/service)

Companies that have used these kinds of systems include Mailchimp and Dropbox.

You need to think about each of these areas when you start building out your SaaS UI/UX design system:

• Interface clarity/simplicity: Focus on user navigation journeys and make your labels very easy to understand. The layout must be simplistic and consistent, and you should also use high-contrast colors. 
• Research: You need to collect comprehensive feedback; do this through interviews, surveys, and other means. Conducting research into how users interact with your apps by looking at your data is also a necessity. 
• Iteration: Once you have the research information you need, you must start implementing some of the suggested changes. 
• Communication: Effective internal communication is essential. Everyone should know what needs to be done on your app product roadmap, and both your designers/developers need to be on the same page. 

Besides conducting research, you should also read into different trends to consider what else you might want to change in your app.

Use these considerations for implementation and maintenance: 

1. Get user feedback from different sources. Surveys and interviews are one aspect, but you should also look at your customer support tickets. Get your developers and prospective users to test the app, too.
2. Look at new design trends and consider patterns that might fit your brand. You should also consider different styles that you may wish to implement, especially if you’ve been through a recent rebrand.  
3. Leverage artificial intelligence (AI) if it makes sense to; consider personalization with the technology, for example. AI can be a helpful tool for suggesting features and resources, but testing them beforehand is essential due to potential inaccuracies. 

There may be instances where you need to adapt your company’s culture. While factors like improvement and collaboration could affect the success of a design system, other variables may also play a role.