Design systems fail without enforcement. Nielsen Norman Group makes this the central argument: no matter how well-built a system is, covering typography and color or extending to gesture timing and animation specs, it collapses without someone actively making teams comply.
The piece earns a full read because it moves past the usual design system evangelism. It maps the spectrum of system complexity, from basic brand rules to coded components for search and navigation to interaction pattern libraries, then asks the question most teams avoid: who is actually responsible for compliance?
If your org has a design system and no clear enforcer, this article is a diagnosis. The governance question it raises is operational, not theoretical, and the answer has headcount and process implications.
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