What the Food Pyramid Can Teach Us About Building Better Design Systems

A Food Pyramid Framework for Design Systems

The more I worked with design systems, the more I felt something was missing. Not in the components themselves, but in how they were prioritized and structured. Design systems are often compared to libraries—a collection of categorized resources. And while that analogy works in some ways, it misses something crucial: hierarchy.

Libraries don’t need balance between genres to function, but design systems do. Without a clear hierarchy, they can become bloated, inconsistent, or ineffective. That’s where the food pyramid comes in. By adapting its layered approach, we can create a model for how to structure and scale our design systems in a healthier, more intentional way.

Base Layer: Foundations & DocumentationThink of this layer as carbs, the essential fuel of your design system. At the base should be the foundational elements and everything else is built on top of them. These are the components that power your system and ensure consistency across the product. It includes:

Design Foundations: This includes your design tokens such as color palettes, typography, spacing scales, elevation levels, as well as layout grids and responsive breakpoints. These elements define your system’s visual language and rhythm.

System Documentation: No matter how beautifully designed a system is, it’s unusable without clear documentation. From implementation notes and accessibility guidelines to usage principles and motion rules, documentation makes your system accessible to every stakeholder: designers, developers, and product teams alike.

This foundational layer should be the largest portion of your design system. Without it, the rest crumbles.

Middle Layer 1: Core ComponentsNext come the core components, they’re like your everyday essentials (fruit and vegetables in this analogy). They are the most frequently used, reusable UI elements like buttons, inputs, and labels. These are the building blocks of your interface.

While individually simple, they’re versatile and essential. Together, they form the backbone of almost every interaction and screen. This layer should also account for component states (hover, disabled, loading, etc.), which dramatically expand its complexity and utility.

Middle Layer 2: Reusable PatternsThe protein of your design system, this is where your system gains power. Reusable patterns are composed of your core components, combined into more complex structures like navigation bars, cards, modals, and form layouts. These patterns bring consistency to your product and reduce redundant work across teams.

They’re also key to scaling your design system efficiently. The more reusable patterns you establish, the faster your team can ship features while maintaining cohesion.

Top Layer: Unique Components & ExperimentsAt the top of the pyramid are the custom, one-off components and experimental designs. These elements are often the most fun to create. They bring personality, creativity, and differentiation to your product. They’re the craveworthy sweets and fats, delightful but best in moderation.

But like desserts, they’re best enjoyed in moderation. Unique components are rarely reusable, and too many can erode system cohesion. Still, a healthy design system should make space for them. Innovation and delight are what keep users engaged and coming back. Just be sure they rest on a solid foundation.

Balancing the Pyramid

A truly effective design system includes all of these layers, and more importantly, it balances them. That balance isn’t static. Over time, as teams scale and products evolve, maintaining that equilibrium becomes a continuous effort. But the payoff is worth it: a consistent, reliable, and delightful product experience.

A Quick Word on Health…

Since we’re talking about pyramids and balance, it’s worth mentioning actual health. At ZoCo, we often work with leaders in healthtech, helping them build scalable design systems that can handle the weight of regulation, complexity, and rapid growth.

In healthcare, products can quickly become top-heavy, loaded with unique components and experimental features born from the drive to innovate. That’s understandable. But without strong foundations and clear documentation, even the best ideas can fall apart.

At companies like CoverMyMeds, we’ve helped ensure that design systems support not only user needs, but the internal teams behind the products as well. Whether you’re a product manager, designer, developer, or researcher, the design system can play a role in how you build and scale. Especially in healthcare, a healthy design system isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s essential.