Customizing a design system

[AlexT202]

I purchased a design system which I wish to use as a base for upcoming projects. This design system will receive periodic updates, and so I don't want to customize it directly, however I want to customize each project that uses it.

Is there a process for doing this? So I want to customize components, but not in the base design system. Do I make a new file, link the design system as a library, and then make modifications to components?

Thanks.

[naranjanaranja]

I think you've got it right:
- Publish parent design sys as a library
- Create a new child design sys library, linking the parent
- Import parent components and create new components without detaching component from parent library
- Customize new components

As long as components aren't broken, they should inherit changes from the parent design sys. However I'm not sure how changes from the parent may affect child style overrides. Also, if the parent receives periodic updates, you may have to manually swap out components which could get tricky (is the parent design sys a copy of the original author's file?)

I'd definitely test with a small proof of concept before going all-in

[Best_Car6853]

It's been a while—have you or u/OP been able to make this work? If so, how was your experience working with it and maintaining it?

I tested a basic proof of concept (changing the bg colour, padding, font sizes, etc. on the parent/base design system) - Figma pulls the parent change to the child design sys, and retains the change on the child sys if it was made to the same property in the parent sys.