IFS Design System

IFS develops and delivers cloud enterprise software for companies around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, build and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations. Within our single platform, our industry specific products are innately connected to a single data model and use embedded digital innovation so that our customers can be their best when it really matters to their customers – at the Moment of Service™. The industry expertise of our people and of our growing ecosystem, together with a commitment to deliver value at every single step, has made IFS a recognized leader and the most recommended supplier in our sector. Our global team of +5,500 employees every day live our values of agility, trustworthiness and collaboration in how we support thousands of customers. For more information, visit ifs.com.

Design System Name

• IFS Design System

Design System team size

• 5-10

Design System team make-up

• Designers
• Engineers
• Product Owner/Manager

Governance model

• Centralized

Products/brands covered by the design system

• 1-3

Adoption approach and means

The IFS Design System uses a groundbreaking adoption strategy to scale design system adoption. The innovative approach is achieved through the application of a declarative, domain-specific language (DSL). Historically, the conventional route to embracing a design system involved a dedicated team solely responsible for its creation and upkeep. This team collaborated with various units or departments to implement the system. However, this approach often proved time-intensive and inefficient, particularly within sprawling organizations with intricate systems. In contrast, the IFS Design System seamlessly integrates into the foundational technology platform, extending accessibility to every developer across the organization. This dual benefit not only conserves valuable time but also optimizes financial resources. The outcome is a cohesive user experience standardizing across all products — a shared design system empowering a consistent brand identity. This innovative methodology has enabled the company to achieve swift adoption of the IFS Design System across thousands of pages, all within a matter of days. Proprietary to the organization, the DSL harmonizes seamlessly with the underlying technology framework. It equips DSL developers with the ability to effortlessly generate and employ components from the design system. Simultaneously, the technology framework guarantees precise rendering of these components across diverse browsers and devices. Essentially, a DSL developer focuses solely on defining ‘what’ needs to be accomplished, leaving the ‘how’ to the realm of magic!

Our approach to promoting the adoption of our design system revolves around five key principles, with UX Designers being the primary target audience. 

1. Declarative Domain-Specific Language
   Streamlined and simplified the process of adopting the design system, by allowing designers and developers to collaboratively articulate the “what”, rather than the “how”, abstracting away complex technical implementation details. This empowers industry specialized teams to focus on understanding the user journey and expressing thee end-users intent, rather than get distracted to optimize stylistic details. 
2. Education
   Conducted workshops, presentations and created comprehensive documentation to explain the value and benefits of the design system. This included onboarding material, e-learning platform, as well as posts on internal social media platform. 
3. Collaboration
   Established cross-team meetings and communication channels for sharing insights, fostering a collaborative culture. The communications spans from intranet, to internal, as well as external social media, and different team channels on the business communication platforms like Teams / Slack. 
4. Continuous Improvement
   Incorporated feedback, analytics, and user insights to iteratively enhance the design system’s effectiveness. Biweekly UX Designer office hours and ideation portal. 
5. Showcasing Success Stories
   Shared impactful case studies and successes to demonstrate the tangible benefits of adopting the design system. The products of new acquisitions have demonstrated the value of design systems for a product’s brand refresh.

Adoption lifecycle management

We considered the design system adoption got effective the first time we exposed the design system through design.ifs.com to an external UX design agency (Hitachi Solutions) – who helped IFS design a new stand alone product. They never saw IFS before, we never met with them, except for a few Zoom calls, yet they delivered designs in line with our core product.

We consider a significant step for our design system adoption when we published all the pieces through the zeroHeight based web site. A one shop stop for all the assets and documentation saves a lot of time. External partner coming back saying; 

“…this may be the most beautiful and well-organized design system I’ve ever received from a client. Tip of the cap to your team, this is amazing!“

Our design system’s adoption strategy focused on seamless integration and evolving to meet changing needs. We began by educating stakeholders through meetings, workshops and comprehensive documentation. We ensured integration into workflows by providing assets compatible with design and development tools like code packages and Figma. Over time, our adoption process evolved. We addressed the complexity of a growing product ecosystem by expanding the system’s scope and updating training materials. Customization options were introduced to balance consistency with individual team needs. Versioning and updates were managed effectively using semantic versioning, reducing friction during implementation. Cross-departmental collaboration was pivotal. Regular meetings have ensured alignment between UX Designers, the underlying technology framework, coupled with our domain specific language, has ensured development compliance, and product teams must pass a stage-gate review before they are cleared for development. This collaboration fostered stakeholder onboarding and consistent usage. Stakeholders benefitted across the board. Designers found streamlined workflows with pre-designed components. Developers appreciated clear coding guidelines and readily available snippets. Product managers recognized the value in improved efficiency and user experience. Success stories were leveraged for executive buy-in, demonstrating how the design system reduced time-to-market and maintained brand consistency. Particularly, for new acquisitions. Overall, our strategy’s focus on education, integration, and collaboration, coupled with an adaptable adoption process, led to enhanced stakeholder onboarding and a culture of design system integration. — Our evolution in adapting our adoption strategy to changing organizational needs is all about striking a balance between the short-term and long-term goals. While initially focused on a strong single brand design system, our attention is slowly shifting towards grander strategical decisions, such as defining the optimum customer configurability of the user interface, defining the customer product experience vision, as well as the transition from a single-brand to a multi-brand design system. This shift balances immediate demands with a broader, long-term vision. The securement of achieving funding in the here and now, with the necessary investments to leapfrog the company’s product experience, at scale. Though our ultimate goal is a unified design system across diverse brands and products, we’re pragmatic about the process. We follow a focused approach inspired by the “bowling alley principle.” We begin by concentrating on a core product that embodies the essence of our primary brand. This flagship product serves as the initial canvas for the design system integration, ensuring a seamless user experience. With a strong foundation in place, supported by an adaptable platform, we pave the way for consistent visual and experiential elements. As we later transition from one brand to a multi-brand ecosystem, we anticipate a similar trajectory for other products. This gradual, iterative approach allows us to respect each brand’s uniqueness while moving toward comprehensive multi-brand design integration. In this way, our strategy accommodates immediate brand-specific needs while building a coherent, user-centric multi-brand design system that thrives across our organization.

“Everyone really liked the cohesive and slick interface [of IFS]. Having the full ERP functionality in conjunction with a modern slick interface put IFS over the edge compared to the competitor.

The big struggle we had with [competitor software] was they were working on the interface. It felt like there were nine clicks and several screens. [competitor Y] was laughable. It looked like something from 20 years ago.”

– Senior Vice President, Manufacturing Company in Americas, 31 July 2023

“A while ago we set up to create the IFS Design System (design.ifs.com), and it’s exciting to see how it is now providing us with what we aimed for: A common model for design and User Experience.”


– Chief Product Officer, IFS.

Adoption results

Our experience in promoting design system adoption has taught us valuable lessons. These are our five key lessons:

1. Implementation Challenge
   Translating design principles into practical implementations is time-intensive. Clear guidelines, code samples, and resources are essential for consistent adoption.
2. Design-Code Gap
   Bridging the gap between designers and developers requires proactive communication and collaboration. Regular cross-functional interaction helps align perspectives.
3. Evangelization Matters
   Merely creating a system isn’t enough. Regular presentations and workshops are vital to demonstrate the system’s benefits and gain support.
4. Resource Intensive
   Integrating the system demands significant effort from UX teams for alignment and developers for code cleanup.
5. Remote Dynamics
   In a remote work setting, maintaining team spirit and fun is crucial for successful collaboration, especially in cross-disciplinary projects. In conclusion, our journey has highlighted the need for practical implementation, effective communication, consistent evangelization, resource allocation, and remote team cohesion to drive the successful adoption of our design system.

Our design system’s adoption process has significantly improved collaboration and communication between teams by: 

• Understanding Team Needs
  Through in-depth assessments, we tailored the design system to meet diverse team requirements. 
• Developer-Designer Alignment
  The system’s unified design principles and components bridged the gap between developers and designers, enabling smoother collaboration. 
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  Standardized assets and guidelines fostered collaboration across departments, leading to faster project delivery and consistency. 
• Effective Stakeholder Dialogue
  Tangible design outputs from the system improved discussions with stakeholders, resulting in quicker decision-making and aligned outcomes. 

In essence, the design system’s adoption process enhanced teamwork, streamlined processes, and increased the system’s value through improved collaboration benefits.

In house, in IFS R&D, we see it everyday in consistency in mocks, prototypes and designs – and in the products. We no longer see a variant of the color green or purple – that is slightly off. It’s using the exact RGB value as was set in our Figma libraries, exported through design tokens, published in ZeroHeight. In the dynamic realm of design, the ultimate proof of a design system’s triumph rests squarely with the customers it serves. Their discerning judgement, honed by personal experiences, stands as the definitive gauge of a design system’s effectiveness. Design systems encompass more than aesthetics; they’re about crafting intuitive experiences that resonate deeply. The true measure of success reverberates through customer satisfaction, loyalty, and engagement. When users seamlessly navigate interfaces and eagerly return, the design system’s power becomes evident. Customers aren’t just selecting a product; they’re choosing an experience. A design system that merges form and function, streamlines processes, and meets user expectations creates a symphony of delight. Positive reviews, increased usage, and referrals testify to its triumph. In the digital age, user-centricity rules. A design system’s strength isn’t just in its mechanics, but in the impact it has. Customer feedback, be it praise or constructive criticism, shapes its evolution, ensuring continued relevance. Our UI/UX has been a key factor in our success. In deals where UI/UX was mentioned as a decision driver, the experience has driven five out of five wins and positively been influencing 10 out of 14 losses. This is a testament to the strength of our delightful user experience, which we will continue to refine and improve. Ultimately, customer judgement is our guiding light through the world of design possibilities. Their contentment is the compass validating the design system’s worth. As we strive to enhance user experiences, remember our journey’s culmination rests in the smiles, engagement, and loyalty of those we design for—our customers. Every day, we strive to create a delightful experience for customers of IFS, across every touchpoint of their journey.