What Did MDS Achieve in 2021?

January 24, 2022—The MDS team has big plans for 2022, including a new foundation for building Morningstar charts and data visualizations, an overhaul of our approach to accessibility, and a renewed focus on engaging with product teams through consulting to better serve their needs. But before we turn the page on 2021, it’s worth reflecting on where we were a year ago, what we’ve accomplished, and where we still have work.

Helping More Teams Build Quality Product Experiences

MDS Vue components were launched in 2020 as a new way to build Morningstar products. In the past year we've seen 300% growth in the number of teams building with MDS Vue, from 17 teams in January 2021 to 52 teams as of today. That means a 300% increase in the number of teams benefitting from higher quality, decreased time to market, and a cohesive way to design and build product experiences. While many teams still face hurdles in their adoption,the progress toward alignment on a single framework and approach is substantial.

That means a 300% increase in the number of teams benefitting from higher quality, decreased time to market, and a cohesive approach to design and build product experiences.

Evolving the System In Tandem With Product Needs

Since launching MDS Vue components, we have continued to develop and expand the system in response to requests from product teams. In 2021 we:

• Released or refactored multiple new components, including data table, date picker, analyst rating, globe rating, star rating, and list group.
• Completed 103 enhancements to MDS components requested by the community.
• Resolved 104 bugs reported against MDS components.
• Updated MDS Components to support server-side rendering (SSR) via router-link components compatible with Vue Router and Nuxt.js.
• Completed 14 consulting engagements with product teams.
• Trained or onboarded more than 50 designers, engineers, and product managers on how to build with the design system.
• Launched self-service training on LinkedIn Learning.
• Launched a new MDS Storybook that allows designers and engineers to browse and explore MDS components.
• Updated the MDS dashboard to integrate with Jira Insight for closer integration with Morningstar’s IT framework. (Users must be on internal VPN to access the dashboard.)

The consulting process was a tremendous help! Overall, it was a very pleasant and productive interaction with the MDS team, and I believe everyone learned a lot through that experience.​

Fostering a Culture of Collaboration

Looking beyond the design system itself, MDS team members partnered with members of the Morningstar community to foster an inclusive culture and improve the way we design and build product experiences.

• Established a new home for Morningstar Brand standards and assets on the MDS doc site.
• Supported the design organization's migration to Figma and launched a new library of Figma assets that mirror the design of MDS components.
• Merged 11 contributions from members of the community, adding to our growing list of contributors to the design system.
• Posted more than 4700 replies to questions in our MDS team channels (and lots of replies in other channels too).
• Supported efforts by product, marketing, and QA teams to make Morningstar products and materials accessible to all users.
• Partnered with the design communications working group to overhaul the Design Sharepoint and publish guidelines for effective communication.
• Supported opportunities for members of the community to grow their careers, whether by recruiting new team members, taking on new roles, joining working groups, improving accessibility, or seeding new capabilities such as Playfair.

The site is a consistent pleasure to use, and I hear often from recruit candidates that they’ve looked through the MDS site and are impressed with what they see

Looking Ahead To 2022

In the coming year we need to continue to our mission to serve product teams, even as we broaden our focus to data visualizations and charts. Priorities for 2022 include:

• Continue to help product teams deliver high-quality product experiences, focusing in particular on engaging with teams that are not building with MDS Vue Components, to understand what challenges they face, and how we can better serve their needs.
• Work with teams across Morningstar to revitalize our approach to charts and data visualizations, supported by a new library of MDS chart elements. In 2021 we laid the foundations for this work; in 2022 we should see it come to fruition.
• Improve the accessibility of MDS components, and evolve the look and feel of components in response to usability feedback and product team needs.

We will post more on these updates in future blog posts, and track them on our road map. In the meantime, we want to thank all of our product partners, collaborators, and contributors for a great year in 2021, and we look forward to working with all of you in the coming year.