A design pattern library can range from being thorough, trying to cover all the bases, to politely broad, so as to not step on the toes of a design team. But patterns should never sacrifice user context for efficiency and consistency. They should reinforce the importance of the design process while helping an organization think more broadly about its users’ needs and its own goals. Real-world problems rarely are solved with out-of-the-box solutions. Even in service design.
For example, when designing digital forms, using button and input fields patterns will improve familiarity and consistency, without a doubt. However, there is no magic formula for the order in which questions on a form should be presented or for how to word them. To best solve for a user’s needs, an understanding of their goals and constraints is essential. Patterns can even cause harm without considering a user’s context and the bearing it may have on their decision-making process.
A design pattern library can range from being thorough, trying to cover all the bases, to politely broad, so as to not step on the toes of a design team. But patterns should never sacrifice user context for efficiency and consistency. They should reinforce the importance of the design process while helping an organization think more broadly about its users’ needs and its own goals. Real-world problems rarely are solved with out-of-the-box solutions. Even in service design.