DrupalCon Seattle 2019: An External Design System in Practice

This talk explores the development of a design system in conjunction with a Drupal project, focusing on the importance of deciding its location as either an external dependency or an embedded part of the theme. The speaker shares insights from a recent rebranding effort involving a partial migration to Drupal 8, revealing how establishing an external design system enabled better decision-making and flexibility throughout the project's lifecycle. Key topics include the structure of the design system repository, using Composer to manage dependencies for Drupal, workflow considerations for managing releases, and the integration of Twig components in WordPress with the Timber Plugin. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the benefits of using an external design system and learn practical steps for its implementation.