If you are paying close attention to the Drupal CMS roadmap, you may have noticed that our focus has mostly been on CMS features and the administrative user interface. Many people have asked: What about themes?

Drupal CMS will initially ship with Olivero, which is the default theme for Drupal core in the Standard profile. Of course, Experience Builder will completely change the way we build sites, and that includes support for design systems and single-directory components. In order to support this initially, the Starshot Demo Design System was developed (very quickly!) to show how design systems can be integrated with XB. We will also develop some components for Olivero so that Drupal CMS and eventually core have something to demo with XB.

Now, we are planning for what comes next. So we are seeking a strategic partner to collaborate on designing and implementing a comprehensive design system for our post-v1 integration with Experience Builder for Drupal CMS. 

The goal for this initiative is to create a modern and versatile design system that provides designers and front-end developers tools to accelerate their adoption of Drupal as their digital platform, by enabling them to easily adapt it to their own brand. This design system will enable content marketers to efficiently build landing pages and campaigns, allowing them to execute cohesive marketing strategies while maintaining the brand integrity.

Since it’s a big commitment for anyone, we are dividing the scope of work between design and implementation. We welcome applicants with expertise in one area who wish to specialize, as well as those who are equipped to handle the complete lifecycle of the design system, from initial design to full technical implementation and integration.

For more details, including information on how to apply, check out the full brief.

Interested partners should submit the following by 6 December, and we will announce the selected proposal(s) the week of 16 December. If you have questions before that, we’re hosting a webinar on 19 November at 15:00 UTC. You can also find us on Slack in #starshot or #experience-builder in the meantime.

We are looking forward to seeing your proposals!