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Going smaller to go bigger. A design system’s evolution. Maria Christley Head of Design
 UI Platform Eva Plaisted Senior Product Designer
 Atlassian Design System
 Klaus Paiva Senior Engineer
 Atlassian Design System

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Atlassian Design System is the cornerstone of crafting quality

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18+ products

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4000+ designers & developers 18+ products

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18+ products 30,000+ marketplace 
 vendors 4000+ designers & developers

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18+ products millions end customers 4000+ designers & developers 30,000+ marketplace 
 vendors

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The ‘wicked’ intersection PAST High maintenance burden PRESENT Hyper growth driving high demand No longer modern, world class or useful FUTURE What future? No time!?!?

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Unleashing the potential for high quality design decisions to be made with confidence and speed. ✨ Going smaller to go bigger

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✨ TEAM COMPOSABILITY FUTURE VISION

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Team

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When a design system tries to please everyone, Image credit: The Pokemon Company

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SERVICE VALUE PRODUCT Design Systems are for people

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Image credits @JohnnyParr @CallaghanDesign

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An organization’s output is directly related to how it communicates internally 
 Conway’s Law

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Thanks for capturing all this and for seeking our feedback regularly as this evolves! Co-designing our future is really empowering. I’m also keen to know how these partner relationships are going to be developed. Ali Pereira, Design Systems Designer … … … …

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One team

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UI Foundations UI Foundations Accessibility Maker Experience Teams Four mission driven teams

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UI Foundations UI Foundations Accessibility Maker Experience Enablement and adoption Enterprise grade Service and support Teams Shared Capabilitie s Atlassian Design System leadership Leads Four mission driven teams

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You will ship your org. Embrace this to be mission focused.

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Composability

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UI Foundations UI Foundations Accessibility Maker Experience

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UI Foundations UI Foundations Accessibility Maker Experience

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Maintainable Scalable Flexible

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Maintainable Scalable Confluence → Jira → Trello → Flexible

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Maintainable New products and experiences Scalable Flexible

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Easily supported by the DS team Maintainable Scalable Flexible

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This is a heading This is a description. I’m baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. Action Action Let’s build a card!

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This is a heading This is a description. I’m baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. Action Action

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Flexible Scalable Maintainable Create a super card 🦸 This is a heading I'm baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. Action Action

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Flexible Scalable Maintainable Action Build ALL the cards This is a heading This is a description. I’m baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. Action Action

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Flexible Scalable Maintainable This is a heading This is a description. I’m baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. Action Action Break it down 🕺 Flexible Scalable Maintainable

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Break it down 🕺 This is a heading This is a description. I’m baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. Action Action Flexible Scalable Maintainable

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This is a heading I'm baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. This is a heading This is a description. I’m baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. Action Action

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This is a heading I'm baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. Action Action This is a heading This is a description. I’m baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. Action Action

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This is a heading This is a description. I’m baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa mustache yes plz unicorn YOLO. Praxis banh mi jawn stumptown kitsch green yuccie. Action elevation.surface.default Image space.300 24 Box heading.default text.default space.200 16 Stack Space.100 8 Inline Space.100 8 Stack button avatar.small icon.button heading.small This is a smaller header space.200 16 Box space.150 12 Stack

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This is a description. I’m baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa. This is a smaller header This is a subtitle Edited 4 July 2023

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This is a description. I’m baby jawn godard ennui, big mood mustache af jean shorts. Shaman vibecession tumblr, food truck 8-bit quinoa. This is a smaller header This is a subtitle Edited 4 July 2023

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But how ? Design Tokens Primitives New!

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But how ? Design Tokens The single source of truth to name and store design decisions. Primitives New!

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But how ? Design Tokens The single source of truth to name and store design decisions. Primitives The scaffolding built around design tokens to guide usage. New!

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But how ? UI foundations Our products Tokens Primitives

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Guidance is 🏽. Embed it into your system, every step

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8 How it started… Hi there!

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“I don’t understand when 
 I can use 8px and when I can use 4px.” Inconsistent guidance How it started… 8

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“I don’t understand when 
 I can use 8px and when I can use 4px.” Inconsistent guidance “I use grid size with any multiple to get the values my designers request.” Creative use of grid-size How it started… 8

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“I don’t understand when 
 I can use 8px and when I can use 4px.” Inconsistent guidance “I use grid size with any multiple to get the values my designers request.” Creative use of grid-size “How should I space elements apart on my page?” Lack of updated grids How it started… 8

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“I don’t understand when 
 I can use 8px and when I can use 4px.” Inconsistent guidance “I use grid size with any multiple to get the values my designers request.” Creative use of grid-size “Why are all these page widths inconsistent?” A layout crisis “How should I space elements apart on my page?” Lack of updated grids How it started… 8

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“I don’t understand when 
 I can use 8px and when I can use 4px.” Inconsistent guidance “What the f%*& are our breakpoints?” No framework for responsive “I use grid size with any multiple to get the values my designers request.” Creative use of grid-size “Why are all these page widths inconsistent?” A layout crisis “How should I space elements apart on my page?” Lack of updated grids How it started… 8 Wait, isn’t it 2023?

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64 48 40 32 24 20 12 16 6 4 How it’s going… Scale 8 Welcome friends!

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How it’s going… space.025 space.050 space.075 space.100 space.150 space.200 space.250 space.300 space.400 space.500 space.600 space.800 Scale Tokens 64 48 40 32 24 20 12 16 6 4 8

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How it’s going… Box Stack Inline Scale Tokens Primitives

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How it’s going… Scale Tokens Primitives Grid

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MAKER S Scale Tokens Primitives Grid How it’s going…

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Scale Tokens Primitives Grid Responsive Density MAKER S CUSTOMER S How it’s going…

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Box Stack Inline space.300 24 Box space.300 24 Stack space.300 24 Inline Layout primitives

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Box Stack Inline Layout primitives

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk Let’s build with primitives!

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk Let’s build with primitives!

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk space.300 24 Box Let’s build with primitives!

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Let’s build with primitives! Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk space.200 16 Inline Let’s build with primitives!

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Let’s build with primitives! Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk space.050 4 Stack Let’s build with primitives!

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Let’s build with primitives! Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk

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🖥 space.300 24 Box space.200 16 Inline space.050 4 Stack But wait…there’s more! Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk

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But wait…there’s more! 📱 space.200 16 Box space.050 4 Stack space.150 12 Inline Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk 🖥 space.300 24 Box space.200 16 Inline space.050 4 Stack Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum IT Operations Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Financial Month End Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Customer Support Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Sales Ops Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum IT Support Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum SWAGs Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum HR Service Desk Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Onboarding Let’s put it into action

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum IT Operations Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Financial Month End Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Customer Support Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Sales Ops Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum IT Support Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum SWAGs Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum HR Service Desk Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Onboarding space.800 64 Stack space.800 64 Stack space.300 24 Box space.200 16 Inline space.050 4 Stack

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum IT Operations Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Financial Month End Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Customer Support Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Sales Ops Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum IT Support Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum SWAGs Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum HR Service Desk Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Onboarding space.500 40 Stack space.200 16 Box space.150 12 Inline space.050 4 Stack space.500 40 Stack

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Sales Ops Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum IT Support Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum SWAGs Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum HR Service Desk Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Onboarding

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Strive for parity 🔮 but allow it to come in different forms* * meet the maker where they are

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Let’s talk about code for a bit… Hi, there!

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UX: Design and Code UX: Design and Code + UX: Design and Code

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+ UX: Design and Code

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Let’s build our card for real!

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Why stop there? Primitives can be applied to other UI foundations… Are we stopping?

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk

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Wow, finally after so many years, we have an amazing portal with a long description to top up the lorem ipsum Travel Service Desk

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Key benefits

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Key benefits Increased designer and developer productivity

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Key benefits Increased designer and developer productivity • Pervasive IA: Terminology parity, better handovers

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Key benefits Increased designer and developer productivity • Pervasive IA: Terminology parity, better handovers Less time handling boilerplate, more time spent shipping

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Key benefits Increased designer and developer productivity • Pervasive IA: Terminology parity, better handovers Less time handling boilerplate, more time spent shipping 6+ hours saved / week of design time

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Handover 🤝
 in detail 🔍

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+ Bring the tools closer together

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+ ❤ Bring the tools closer together

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Bring the tools closer together Box Stack Inline

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Bring the tools closer together

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Bring the tools closer together

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xcss What about bespoke experiences?

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Full docs: go.atlassian.com/xcss xcss: An example

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xcss: An example Full docs: go.atlassian.com/xcss

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xcss: An example Full docs: go.atlassian.com/xcss

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Auto layout What about vendor lock-in?

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Three 🔑
 principles

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Elements to success Cohesion Composition Confidence

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Cohesion Ensure cohesive experiences that are distinctly Atlassian while not restricting the creativity and unique expression of our makers Composition Confidence

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Composition Confidence Cohesion

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Cohesion Composition Smaller pieces mean higher fidelity. They can be composed infinitely with each use being declarative and intentionally expressive. Confidence

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Composition Confidence Cohesion

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Cohesion Composition Confidence More expressive & declarative code ‑‐ Better target for code transformation tools ‑‐ Keeping code up- to-date with latest

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Composition Confidence Cohesion

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Future

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PAST PRESENT 2023 FUTURE 2033 What do the next 10 years hold?

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Make experience quality the pit of success

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We’re shifting our culture through systems thinking. “ Jennie Yip | Principal Design Architect 
 Atlassian Design System

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Thank you for adding dark mode! This was an accessibility issue for some people like me. “ JIRA CUSTOMER

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Primitives are awesome. [They are] genuinely low effort and high impact. “ ATLASSIAN DEVELOPER

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Systemic Shifts

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What have we atlassian.design

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THANK YOU Maria Christley Head of Design
 UI Platform Eva Plaisted Senior Product Designer
 Atlassian Design System
 Klaus Paiva Senior Engineer
 Atlassian Design System