This diploma thesis applies the principles of systemic thinking to the current web design process. It focuses on dealing with the issues related to conflicts and diversity of opinions among individual members of the team working on web design. In the theoretical part, this thesis deals with topic areas and activities relevant for modern approach to web design and the overall role of the user during the design process. In the practical part, the team responsible for web design is viewed as a soft complex system, to which Checklands soft system methodology is applied as a problem-solving tool.

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a deeper understanding of the potential benefits of using an open-source library when building a design system. The thesis uses a research through design approach in three steps; (1) identifying what a design system contains and the possible advantages of using one. (2) Building a design system based on an open-source library. (3) Evaluate how the new design system performs by comparing its performance to the possible advantages identified in step (1). In the result chapter, the design system is presented, and the design is motivated based on the brand identity. The discussion evaluates what pros and cons it might bring to use an open-source design system compared to the general advantages of design systems mentioned in the literature. It also evaluates the process and provides knowledge for anyone wanting to use an open-source design system. In the conclusion, this thesis argues that itis useful and time-saving for any company to use an open-source library when it comes to simpleand often recurring components. However, since every application solves specific problems, the creation of unique components is inevitable. Using already designed components could also limit the ideation process since the designer already have a toolkit to use when solving problems.

A Design System is a single source of truth for an organisation’s products helping designers and developers realise an idea in an efficient workflow. Sometimes, a Design System can become inefficient, leading to problems like increasing design inconsistencies, delayed design workflow, unclear design guidelines, and increasing use of UI elements outside the Design System. A similar set of problems were identified in a rapidly growing electronics software startup, and out of all the Design System components, a checkbox is picked to showcase the redesign process. This led to the research question, “What are the key design challenges faced while redesigning a fragmented checkbox component in a startup?”. To tackle such problems, some methods like: Design System audit, stakeholder interviews, dot voting, secondary research, ideation, survey, and diary studies were used to gather insights. Five to ten internal stakeholders took part in most of the research activities. Four prominent challenges were discovered during the entire incremental redesign process. First is the difficulty in locating multiple instances of a UI component from various design files. Second is the difficulty in manually replacing the old with new UI components to visualise them in the context of many UI components and screens. The third is the difficulty in evaluating the redesigned UI components. Last is the challenge of transitioning the current UI screens with new UI components in bulk. It is challenging from the state of discovery until the test and transition. Consistent documentation and bulk action Figma plugins such as Similayer can be useful for a smooth transition. / Ett designsystem är en gemensam källa med anvisningar för en organisations produkter, som hjälper designers och utvecklare att förverkliga en idé i ett effektivt arbetsflöde. Ibland kan ett designsystem bli ineffektivt, vilket leder till problem som mer inkonsekventa designlösningar, försenat designarbetsflöde, oklara designriktlinjer och ökad användning av lånade UI-element från utanför designsystemet. En liknande uppsättning problem identifierades i en snabbt växande startup med fokus på elektronikprogramvara, och av alla designsystemkomponenter är en kryssruta markerad för att visa upp omdesignprocessen. Detta ledde till forskningsfrågan, "Vilka är de viktigaste designutmaningarna när manomdesignar en fragmenterad kryssrutekomponent i en startup?". För att ta itu med sådana problem användes metoder som: Designsystemrevision (Design System audit), intressentintervjuer, punktomröstning (dot voting), sekundär forskning, idéering, enkät och dagboksstudier för att samla in insikter. Fem till tio interna intressenter deltog i de flesta av dessa aktiviteter. Fyra huvudsakliga utmaningar upptäcktes under den inkrementella omdesignprocessen. Den första är svårigheten att hitta flera instanser av en UI-komponent från olika designfiler. Den andra är svårigheten att manuellt ersätta äldre UI-komponenter för att visualisera dem tillsammans med flera olika UI-komponenter och skärmar. Den tredje är svårigheten att utvärdera de omdesignade UI-komponenterna. Sist är utmaningen att enkelt uppdatera alla de existerande gränsnitten med nya UI-komponenter i ett svep. Vi ser med andra ord utmaningar ända från designprocessens initiala skede till testet och övergången. Konsekvent dokumentation och ”bulk action” Figma-plugins som Similayer kan vara användbara för en smidig övergång.

How do we design for connection? How might we introduce quirkiness, personal expression and a little bit of magic to our unified, unemotional black screens? Working with design systems can have perks, but something gets lost when we systemise how we communicate. I argue to open up rigid design systems and loosen their rules to elicit something new that’s cute, weird, and so unique: it becomes magical. To make an empathic connection with people in their context. I apply research through design and user-centred methods to gain insights while prototyping along the way to test and tweak communication features. The result is "Expressive Signals," a repository of design explorations promoting personalised digital communication. The intention is to challenge the status quo and enhance expression and thrilling unexpectedness while connecting. They are five design examples playing with the following features; showing presence in digital conversations, how speech bubbles can match their content, how emojis can be personalised, creating a digital repository of cherished messages and ensuring that our messages get read in the right context. Expressive Signals allow users to cut through the noise and generate strong signals to enhance expression in digital systems. The focus is on combining, tweaking, and exploring new digital communication elements to enhance expression and connect on a deeper level. They utilise micro-interactions, haptics and tools with purposefully loose constraints to invite to be broken, to elicit what we don’t expect. Expressive signals promote play, joy, and other aspects of life that have been neglected in favour of utility or pragmatism in digital communication spaces. I am asking: can a system ever make space for the thrilling and unexpected? Design bursts with self-expression. I intend to design for precisely that. This passion project dwells on my interest in language, communication, storytelling and every nerdy cognitive science bit around it. It explores how to combine and tweak new features to enhance expression, ultimately aiming to design for self-expression and unexpected magic.

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The design of VLSI electronic circuits can be achieved at many different abstraction levels starting from system behavior to the most detailed, physical layout level. As the number of transistors in VLSI circuits is increasing, the complexity of the design is also increasing, and it is now beyond human ability to manage. Hence CAD (Computer Aided design) or EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools are involved in the design. EDA or CAD tools automate the design, verification and testing of these VLSI circuits. In today’s market, there are many EDA tools available. However, they are very expensive and require high-performance platforms. One of the key challenges today is to select appropriate CAD or EDA tools which are open-source for academic purposes. This thesis provides a detailed examination of an open-source EDA tool called Electric VLSI Design system. An excellent and efficient CAD tool useful for students and teachers to implement ideas by modifying the source code, Electric fulfills these requirements. This thesis' primary objective is to explain the Electric software features and architecture and to provide various digital and analog designs that are implemented by this software for educational purposes. Since the choice of an EDA tool is based on the efficiency and functions that it can provide, this thesis explains all the analysis and synthesis tools that electric provides and how efficient they are. Hence, this thesis is of benefit for students and teachers that choose Electric as their open-source EDA tool for educational purposes.

The diploma thesis describes the design of your own web application within the long-term collaborative project co.llaborate.online. In a small team, we reflect on our own workflow and designer work. Currently, the common goal is the design and development of MVP for processing text, images and other graphic material into any graphic output - graphic editor co.design. As part of the project, we have also focused for a long time on the concept of compatible MVPs for text editing or data management and user research. The starting point of co.llaborate.online is the principle of DRY (Don't repeat yourself) and the principles of web technologies. We test how certain workflows can be automated and facilitate the collaboration of designers, text authors, editors, proofreaders, etc., or emancipate users from unnecessary activities.