Design systems must prove ROI in dollars — automation and "systemizing culture" are the future¶
Insight: Design systems are first on the chopping block during layoffs because they fail to prove ROI in hard dollars. The future of DS teams is: (1) Automating repetitive production work (component design, pattern docs), (2) Proving value with specific dollar amounts, (3) Evolving from "design systems team" to "systems team" that systematizes all UI and automates workflows across the org, (4) Workflow automation beyond components.
Detail: Cusick was laid off from a DS team lead role despite the system supporting hundreds of engineers — because leadership didn't perceive the value. Concrete ROI examples from his work: (a) Icon-to-code pipeline automation (Figma webhook + GitHub Action) saved $100K/year and cut production from 3 weeks to minutes, (b) Custom Figma plugin for brand refresh component swapping saved $30K in design hours, (c) Token-to-code pipeline (Token Studio + Style Dictionary + GitHub Actions) improved dev speed 50% and reduced style QA bugs 75%. His blunt take: "You built a component. Cool. Now tell me: what dollar amount can you tie to that work?"
Sources
- Josh Cusick — "The future of design systems" (2025-05-07)