The enterprise version doesn’t fit
Full design systems assume a dedicated team, contributors, and a review process. A small company copying that produces documentation nobody maintains and then abandons the idea, concluding systems don’t work for them.
The minimum that works
A small palette, two typefaces with a fixed scale, one spacing unit, a border and shadow convention, and a defined set of buttons. Eight decisions, made once, applied without exception — the constraints that make a distinctive brand survivable.
A system nobody can hold in their head is a system that will be ignored under deadline.
Put it in the code, not in a document
Tokens and components in the codebase are enforced automatically; a PDF is advisory and goes stale immediately. If the only way to build a button is the button component, drift is structurally impossible.
Fewer options beats more
Three text sizes used consistently look more designed than nine used approximately. Constraint is what produces coherence when the people applying it are not designers, which in a small team is most of the time.
Write down what must never change
A short list of non-negotiables — the accent is used for one thing only, hover states never go dark — is more useful than exhaustive documentation, and it survives contact with whoever edits the site next.
Check it against the constraints that matter
Every token needs to pass contrast, work at small sizes, and respect reduced motion. A system that fails those is not a style choice, it is a defect with a rationale.