Dan Donald

Design system change management: Change is the only constant - zeroheight Dan Donald provides practical guidance for managing change in design systems — triage, naming, workflows, and communication.

In design systems, change is the only constant. And thinking ahead to life after the release of our first components can positively impact how we start.

Check out @hereinthehive.bsky.social's article for the @zeroheight.com blog: zeroheight.com/blog/design-...

For those curious about AI and DS tooling, give my side project @gotrino.bsky.social a follow or subscribe the occasional newsletter talking more about progress; gotrino.com

Why Federated Design Systems Keep Failing Why do federated design systems keep failing? I watched it happen twice at Spotify. Here's what actually happened, where they broke down, and why centralised models usually work better.

A few years back, I nearly wrote "The Fallacy of Federated Design Systems." Then @nathanacurtis.bsky.social beat me to it. But what happens when you try it anyway?

At Spotify, I watched federated fail twice, resulting in a huge number of barely reused components and damaged trust in design systems.

If you could talk to your design system, what kinds of things would you ask it?

#designsystems

Go and follow my side project…maybe subscribe the newsletter. I think it’s pretty cool…

@gotrino.bsky.social 🔥

Mwah ha haaaaa @gotrino.bsky.social 🔥

After a lull in music through… _life_… 🤷🏻‍♂️

My alter ego @thesedeadmachines.bsky.social will have a new single out soon 🔥

Maaaaan…really want to share what I’m doing in this space 🤫🤐

#ffconf BUELLER?

BUELLER?

BUELLER?

BUELLER?

BUELLER?

Ohhh that old classic 😂

😂

This might be LinkedIn fodder…

One of many great #designsystems conversations over the last week: we need to stop using the phrase ‘single source of truth’. It’s bullshit.

Design systems and ADHD with Brad Frost Podcast Episode · Systems of Harm · 30/10/2025 · 1h

AS IF I snuck this episode of Systems of Harm out yesterday without posting about it - but 90% of the design systems community was at Converge.

This week’s guest is none other than @bradfrost.com (‼️) talking about design systems and ADHD.

Apple: apple.co/4qQfR50
RSS: bit.ly/43gtLkB

With the end of my current contract at Gymshark coming to an end in Feb…and with the holidays inbetween, I’m starting to put the feelings out for a potential next gig

Give me a shout if you’re up for a chat!

Still in the place of barely using socials these days. Just not as interesting as it used to be, which is a massive shame…

Tell me something good that’s happening in your worlds!

Get on board!

Published another of our #FFConf speaker interviews today. This time, pleased to introduce Hannah Clarke (if you're on bluesky, I've yet to find you!) on "An Uncomfortable Place" about building framework-agnostic components.

Get your ticket and see it IRL, interview here: ffconf.org/articles/202...

Big fan of Mario Kart World btw

WDC2025 - October 10 2025, Watershed, Bristol, UK WDC is the web conference based in Bristol, taking place in autumn each year. With great speakers and attendees alike.

It's release day!

We're pleased to announce the immediate availability of WDC OS 2.0.

Updates include:

* Full Speaker Lineup
* Agenda for the day
* WDClippy if you need help

Tickets for the day are just £100.

webdevconf.com

…so how about you lot?

The book is still very much in progress - awesome designer working on the cover and copy editor about to start work on it

Pre-orders once the design is ready from what I hear 🤯

It’s more than 6-months since my album came out. Still feels great that I actually did a thing

Once there’s headspace, so much new music to finish and put out

While the day job is more design-side, it’s been pretty awesome working on a side project with @hannahc.bsky.social, learning a load of nextjs, api architecture, Supabase and all kinds of stuff

Might see if I can get the ol’ social media reflexes going again. So much has been going on!

Just don’t have that instinct or need to post on socials these days. The demise of Twitter and the continued shitification of pretty much every other platform have sucked what little joy there was out of it

Anyway…hope you’re well

Totally forgot about social media for a while. It’s been great!

Into Design Systems Fck Up Stories 🧨 · Zoom · Luma The perfect Design System doesn’t exist. Our speakers will share their failures and the valuable lessons they’ve learned! Join us for casual, real talk 🥵 What…

🤔 Are Design Tokens overhyped?
😵‍💫 When does theming become a nightmare?

💸 Have you ever had trouble proving the Design System’s value?

🌶️ Tomorrow, we'll ask all the spicy questions

🥳 Over 500 design system professionals have already signed up.

Are you joining us? 🙋‍♂️

lu.ma/c9lp044o

It’s interesting getting to know myself more

Like with onboarding at a new place - I kind of want all the In formation flicked into my eyeballs the minute I start so I can start digesting it rather than a chilled process to find your feet

Everyone involved in the creation of a product has an obligation to consider its ethical implications. You can’t outsource this responsibility or expect someone else to “figure it out”.
It has nothing to do with your job description, and everything to do with being human.

While trying to get to the end of the first draft of my book I hit that point repeatedly that should just delete and start again…so great to hear the confidence that my editor has in it. Just the thing I needed to power through 👌