The Washington Post Makes Its Design System Open-Source For Public Use

Creatives and developers, heads up! The Washington Post has debuted a new open-source design platform, making its codes and features available to the public for the first time.

Called the Washington Post Design System (WPDS), the growing library houses design tokens and interactive components used on the publication’s website, which has enabled its designers to create modular, elegant, and accessible digital products for readers that remain consistent across its numerous channels. 

According to the blog post, this system not only allows the newsroom and backend to move in sync within an ever-changing news cycle, but also “keeps the platform nimble, current, and competitive.” 

As a start, the library offers nine design components, though the publication aims to expand that to 70 within the coming months. Users can access ‘Foundations’, ‘Components’, and ‘Guides’ to learn about the design tokens, how they work, and best practices for technical implementation.

Furthermore, every week, new notes and deep dives into how the Post’s team processes and refines aspects of the site will be released to the public to guide them along in the journey. 

“Just as we believe in transparency with our journalism, we’re thrilled to bring that same transparency to our engineering, product, and design practices so others can benefit from our learnings and learn from our patterns for rapid development,” said Arturo Silva, Engineering Lead at the Post. 

“We hope by sharing our design system others can learn and feel empowered,” added Design Lead Brian Alfaro. 

[via The Washington Post, cover image via Vasile Bobirnac | Dreamstime.com]