Jeff Pelletier

Design Systems Operations, Evangelism & Mentoring

I'm Jeff, a design systems specialist, tech lead, author, musician, and proud Dad living in Hudson, MA.

Appearances

Knapsack Webinar

Design Systems for Data-Rich Experiences

July 10, 2024

I was one of 4 panelists invited to discuss design systems by the fantastic folks at Knapsack.

Work

Apiture work samples:

Governance Model

I designed a governance model workflow for the design system team, which helped everyone understand whether any given feature is a valid core system contribution, or should remain a product snowflake.

Roadmapping

I ran a workshop in FigJam for the systems team to help define 2025 priorities. We refined larger initiatives, and interactively made decisions on what we’d commit to given current constraints.

BILL work samples:

Feature Workflow

I facilitated a multi-session workshop to inclusively define the design system team’s workflow, and implemented results across the system docs and the system team’s Jira instance.

Component Specs

I implemented API-first Google Doc specs for design to engineering handoff, which resulted in increased collaboration across design and engineering, more robust and refined API details and overall component quality.

Metrics

I wrote a Node.JS tool that searched product codebases for component instances. It generated reports that fed up to leadership and PM’s looking to understand where to prioritize.

Advocacy

I hosted a series of company-wide design systems knowledge watch parties which offered a casual forum where everyone was invited to ask questions and inclusively participate.

Stewardship

Some nice things colleagues have said about me:

Jeff has proven that he is a strong contributor to the team. He is a huge proponent and evangelist of the Design System concept for the company.

Michael Drnec, Software Engineering Manager @ Apiture

Jeff is a design systems wizard.

Daniel Barbour, Creative Technologist & Empathy Driven Leader @ Apiture

With no prior experience in creating a design system, we realized we needed someone with knowledge, experience and passion. Jeff played a crucial role in establishing the system, gaining support from our leaders, and ensuring it was adopted by engineers and designers.

Sharon Cardinal, Senior Product Design Manager, Platform @ BILL

I’ve found Jeff to be a great resource and a helpful partner to talk about (and work on) issues like design systems metrics, design tokens, documentation, training, and more.

Michael Haggerty-Villa, Senior Product Design Manager, Design Systems @ BILL

Jeff is a design systems thought leader.

River Lune, Senior Engineering Manager, Design Systems @ BILL

Over 1,000 hours of mentorship on ADPList, and some nice words from a mentee:

Jeff Pelletier has over 1000 hours of mentorship on ADPList

Having the chance to chat with Jeff was like finding a hidden gem in the vast sea of mentors! Jeff guided me through the waves of design systems with patience and clarity that could calm even the most troubled waters. His recommendations were like the north star! The resources he shared became my compass, and I feel well-equipped to navigate my current design systems project. If you're diving into the design systems world, having Jeff as a mentor is like having the wind in your sails!

Vera Mardovina, Product Designer, Design Systems @ Americor

Writing

A curated list of thoughts I've shared over the years:

Design System Tiers blog post by Jeff Pelletier

Design System Tiers

published May 6, 2024

Back in January, Brad Frost introduced the concept of a Global Design System, and the idea has spread like wildfire for those of us for whom it resonates resoundingly.

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The Hundred-Year Web Component Darkness is Over blog post by Jeff Pelletier

The Hundred-Year Web Component Darkness is Over

published January 23, 2024

Web Components have a somewhat sordid past. Historically, they’ve been viewed as slow to be production-ready, or not able to work well enough to support business needs today. However, the winds are changing. 

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Design System Pitfalls blog post by Jeff Pelletier

Design System Pitfalls

published November 21, 2023

The path to successful design systems is perilous indeed. Poisonous snakes, speedy scorpions, and lurking alligators are all lying in wait while the systems team attempts to rope swing over all of them.

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Design Systems Should be JavaScript Framework Agnostic blog post by Jeff Pelletier

Design Systems Should be JavaScript Framework Agnostic

published September 3, 2018

An emerging trend in design systems is the idea of separating your core HTML & CSS from the current JavaScript framework. There’s clearly a difference between presentational JavaScript, and the JavaScript...

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Front-end Roles and Responsibilities blog post by Jeff Pelletier

Front-end Roles and Responsibilities

published January 7, 2017

Working on the front-end of the web has evolved quite a bit over the past decade or so. One challenge I’ve faced repeatedly is helping people understand just which areas of web work I excel at.

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The Frontend Spectrum blog post by Jeff Pelletier

The Front-end Spectrum

published November 1, 2015

Modern front-end web development is a busy place. The industry shuffle is exponentially rapid, and when you’re heads down working on a project, it can be easy to lose focus on the big picture.

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