If your design system’s top goal is “consistency,” you’re aiming too low.

Consistency is table stakes. It’s a side effect, not a value proposition.

When leadership asks, “Why are we investing in a design system?” the answer can’t be:

“So our buttons look the same.”

Here’s a better way to think about it:

Design systems should solve business-critical problems. Problems like speed, quality, scalability, and governance.

Consistency is just the scaffolding. It’s a by-product, not the business case.

The best systems I’ve seen are built to:

• Unblock engineering bottlenecks

• Speed up cross-functional workflows

• Empower junior contributors to ship with confidence

• Scale UX decisions across brands, markets, and devices

Those are goals worth investing in.

So if your pitch deck or vision doc says your system’s job is “consistency,” here’s a homework assignment:

Replace that word with a business problem your system actually solves.

Where to find that?

Download the deck that a VP presented at the most recent company all-hands meeting. Find the most frequently mentioned words or phrases.

At the last company I consulted with, that was a passed-around deck the CTO created. On the overview page was this sentence:

The focus of our work remains on four key platforms:

So our mission became to tie design system work to the work happening within those four platforms.

Suddenly, people started appreciating the design system more.

Magically, the user interfaces across all four platforms started to become more consistent.