Human Interface Guidelines vs Design Systems

Developers should learn and use Human Interface Guidelines when building applications for specific platforms like iOS, Android, or Windows to ensure compliance with platform expectations and enhance user adoption meets developers should learn and use design systems when building complex applications or products that require consistency across multiple interfaces, such as web and mobile apps, to reduce redundancy and improve collaboration with designers. Here's our take.

Human Interface Guidelines

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use Human Interface Guidelines when building applications for specific platforms like iOS, Android, or Windows to ensure compliance with platform expectations and enhance user adoption

Pros

• This is critical for creating polished, professional apps that pass app store reviews, integrate seamlessly with system features, and provide a familiar experience to users
• Related to: ui-design, ux-design

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Design Systems

Developers should learn and use design systems when building complex applications or products that require consistency across multiple interfaces, such as web and mobile apps, to reduce redundancy and improve collaboration with designers

Pros

• It is particularly valuable in large organizations or projects with distributed teams, as it streamlines development, enforces accessibility standards, and accelerates prototyping and iteration
• Related to: ui-design, frontend-development

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Human Interface Guidelines is a concept while Design Systems is a methodology. We picked Human Interface Guidelines based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Human Interface Guidelines wins

Based on overall popularity. Human Interface Guidelines is more widely used, but Design Systems excels in its own space.