Design Systems
Component Classification
Your design system's components feel disorganized. Component Classification creates a taxonomy based on function, complexity, and relationships. In this 3.5-hour exercise, build a component structure that scales. It works best for established design systems needing better organization. Expect intense analytical work. You'll see it's working when the taxonomy exposes missing components and inconsistent naming.
Duration
3.4 hours
Group Size
8-15
Category
Design Systems
Difficulty
Easy
Comprehensively inventory existing components. Create a multi-level classification system (like atoms, molecules, organisms). Assign each component to a category. Identify gaps and redundancies in the component library.
Classified components by type and usage. Organized component inventory. Established a foundation for a component system.
When setting up categories, start broad: navigation, content, interaction, feedback. Let subcategories emerge from the components. Forcing pre-made categories can lead to awkward fits. Some components won't fit cleanly. That's useful information. Create a 'needs discussion' category for boundary-blurring items; they often reveal design system gaps. As a facilitator, stay neutral during categorization debates. Your job is to surface disagreement, not resolve it. Disagreement often highlights valuable perspectives. After classification, review category sizes. Uneven distributions suggest category adjustments. A 'miscellaneous' pile exceeding 10% indicates unclear classification criteria.
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