Mastering Design Systems with Jeremy Butler

In this episode, Matt Stauffer sits down with Jeremy Butler, product design lead at Laravel, to trace his path from building an app to sell advertisements to shaping the look and feel of Cloud, Nightwatch, and Forge. Jeremy shares how a copy of Laravel: Up & Running rescued a struggling NHS project, why he leans on systems thinking and design thinking over raw pixels, and how design finally became its own pillar at Laravel alongside engineering. They also dig into his side projects — useClassy and DSLinter — plus design system governance, tokens, and why solid design fundamentals still matter in the age of AI. Matt Stauffer on X - https://x.com/mattstauffer Jeremy on X - https://x.com/jrmymbtlr Jeremy on Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/jrmybtlr.com Laravel Up and Running - https://laravelupandrunning.com/ Classy - https://useclassy.com/ UseMods - https://usemods.com/ DSLinter - https://dslinter.com./ Laws of UX - http://lawsofux.com Untools - https://untools.co/ Laravel Twitter -   / laravelphp   Laravel Website - https://laravel.com/ Laracon US 2026 - https://laracon.us/ Tighten Website - https://tighten.com/ Suggestion Box - https://suggest.gg/laravelpodcast ----- Editing and transcription sponsored by Tighten - https://tighten.com/ Big thanks to the companies that support the show: Honeybadger - https://www.honeybadger.io/for/laravel/ Laravel - Laracon US and Laravel Cloud Laracon AU - https://laracon.au Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:39 Laravel: A Framework for Clean Software Development 05:35 Design Thinking: Bridging the Gap Between Design and Engineering 07:11 Building Nightwatch: A Collaborative Effort 10:54 The Evolution of Laravel's Design Systems 14:01 AI and the Future of Laravel 16:27 Creating a Cohesive User Experience 19:22 The Role of Metrics in Design 21:00 Governance in Design Systems 24:37 Learning and Growing as a Designer 26:58 Engaging with the Community