Design systems evolved the process by which UI graphics are made, full with automation and deep integration. However, Open Source communities were left out of this bandwagon as most of the applications providing these capabilities were for pay or very limited for users.

Fortunately, a new wave of design system applications, led by PenPot, has made an appearance with a bold strategy and Open Source at its core. As such, KDE Plasma saw an opportunity to build something unique to develop the Plasma desktop faster and with higher fidelity to user experience standards.

This is the talk about the journey and learnings from this project and a larger discussion on design strategies. How the journey took us from a limited application for pay to a fully Open Source system.