FREE TEMPLATE — Design Systems Decoded
This template accompanies EP02 — The Architecture of Zero.
Free with newsletter subscription. Link from the EP02 Quick Win section.
Purpose: Identify which layer your design system started at and what needs to be built before the first component.
From the series by Alex Aljabawi — uxarena.net
The three-layer model: Foundation — Structure — Components.
Most teams start at Layer 3. This audit tells you what you skipped.
It takes thirty minutes. The missing layers take months to fix.
Read this first. The fictional company is Cascade — a 90-person product company that launched a design system eighteen months ago and is wondering why adoption is at 12%.
Completed by: Design Systems Lead
Date: Q1 2026