On Theme: Design Systems in Depth
Exploring how successful design systems get built, maintained, and deliver impact for their product teams. Go deeper than tokens and get more detailed than "it depends". Expect aha moments, actionable insights, thoughtful discussions, and spicy takes from accomplished design system practitioners. Hosted by Elyse Holladay.
Episodes
12 episodes
Bye Purple! A redesign powered by local & global design system layers at Spotify, with Smith Schwartz & Tyce Clee
Spotify’s ad platform just got a serious glow-up, and Smith and Tyce are here to tell us how they pulled it off. Smith Schwartz, Product Design Manager, and Tyce Clee, Engineering Manager, walk us through the redesign of Spotify Ads Manager—why...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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56:13
What happens when your system can’t support your flagship product?, with Adriana Morales — #08
Adriana Morales from HEB (aka the best grocery store) poses a tricky question for the show: what happens when your design system can't support all your products, or your flagship product? Hashtag enterprise organization problems. Adriana and I ...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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57:12
I’m a design system consumer now: lessons from the other side, with Beau Ulrey — #07
I invited Beau to the podcast because of his great Medium articles on design systems... but he's not working on a system team right now! Beau shares his experiences on both sides of the—fence? aisle?—and the lessons he's taken away. We chat abo...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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43:58
Building a multi-brand joint venture design system for BetMGM, with ToniAnn Drenckhahn — #06
ToniAnn joins the show to share her experience building a multi-brand design system for BetMGM and Entain's joint venture. This episode is our first project deep dive and it's full of legacy codebases, lessons learned, and big wins. ToniAnn tal...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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1:02:39
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Stop waiting for permission! and other ways to show design systems value, with Brian Alfaro — #05
If the way we're building design systems has a fatal flaw, it's "waiting for enough investment to get it right." In this episode, Brian teaches us to not wait for permission and how your product teams' success is your success. Brian remi...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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42:58
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All the things you shouldn’t do for design system success, with Dan Mall — #04
I'm thrilled to have the one and only Dan Mall on the show, and in this episode, we get deep into all the things you maybe don't want to do if you want your design system to be successful. Dan shares his experiences with failed desi...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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54:25
Layoffs, rebrands, and getting "zero results" from your design system, with Noelle Lansford — #03
You can't talk about design systems lately without addressing the elephant in the room: layoffs. Noelle walks us through her experience of multiple layoffs in one year, why 2023 was so different than 2020, and how the success criteria of des...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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58:25
When Design Systems became A Thing with Jina Anne — #02
Jina Anne gives us a history of the journey from early style guides to widespread industry adoption of design systems, and the challenges and successes. We explore how tokens came to be, how it feels when the engineering team just starts...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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54:50
Efficiency, respect, and the origins of design systems with Brad Frost — #01
Brad Frost takes us back in time to the early days of design systems, and walks us through some of the significant moments of evolution from style guides to modern design systems. We dig in to the multiple proto-Storybook-esque projects,...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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43:32
On Theme S1 Minisode 2: 2025 Predictions
Elyse shares five predictions for design systems in 2025 and beyond in the second pre-season minisode. Text the show to share your thoughts and predictions and maybe even be featured in a future minisode!Early Bird tickets are available...
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Season 1
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18:31
