March 31, 2025

Alpha 1 Release Notes

Alpha 1, released on March 31, 2025, marks the first release of the UCalgary Design System! This release focused on establishing visual foundations and infrastructure for the design system and launching the public facing design system website.

Release items from Alpha 1  

 

Design System Website (designsystem.ucalgary.ca)  

  • The central hub for digital design at UCalgary--connecting designers, developers, and teams across campus with design principles, design foundations and tokens, digital design standards, and information about how to get involved with the UCalgary Design System.  

 

Design Foundations and Tokens 

  • Digital design foundations were established in this release to serve as a blueprint to inform the creation of the visual and functional elements of the design system, including Colour, Typography, Shape, Spacing, Icons and Grid.  
  • Reusable variables (design tokens) have been established to represent and apply each foundational element of the design system at scale. These design tokens enable designers and developers to connect elements and components to a central point of truth, ensuring consistency and ease of maintenance for future design decisions.  

Learn more about foundations and tokens

 

In the pipeline  

Work in progress that will be included in an upcoming release: 

  • Core components 
    • Button and button group  
    • Icon component 
  • Form element components  
    • Text input  
    • Drop-down  
    • Radio button  
    • Chip 
  • Release pipeline 
  • Establishing release protocols for design and code assets  

 

On the roadmap  

Upcoming items from further down the roadmap include remaining form elements, global header and footer components, and the first set of common UI elements (accordions, text/copy, images, etc.).  

Check out our roadmap for details on future releases and planning

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