Ever wonder what makes your favorite apps and websites feel so intuitive? Behind every smooth digital experience is a design system doing the heavy lifting. This article breaks down the top 5 design system category components.

Contributors

By Polina Reut, Hanna Matsiyeuskaya and Ilya Greben

from Design Systems Surf team

When we look at the best systems, they organize UI components into five key areas: Actions that respond when we touch them; Feedback that confirms our choices worked; Inputs that collect what we're trying to say; Navigation that helps us move around without getting lost, and Status indicators that keep us in the loop.

We’ll introduce essential design system component categories and explain their individual roles in building clear, intuitive, and human-centered interfaces.

Actions

Actions turn intention into movement and guide users toward their next steps. This category includes familiar components like buttons and links, as well as more compact or dynamic actions such as action button, chip, or menu.

Buttons

Good buttons are conversational and create moments of connection between humans and technology. They say "Click me to continue" or "I'm here when you're ready to save your work."
When they’re designed well, buttons quietly guide us forward like a friend who knows the way, turn hesitation into action, and break down intimidating tasks into clear, doable steps.

Creating buttons people love to press

It is part art, part precision. We crave consistency—just like finding comfort in our morning routines, we feel more confident when buttons look and behave similarly across an interface. It's reassuring.

A good button responds to us, highlighting when we hover, depressing slightly when clicked, creating that satisfying sense that something physical just happened, that we're in control.

But great buttons work for everyone. Clear text that's easy to read. Color combinations that work for people with different vision. Interaction patterns that make sense whether you're using a mouse, keyboard, or screen reader.

Link

Unlike buttons, which often require decisions, links invite exploration. They should be noticeable but not distracting, letting people naturally explore a website or app.

They should be easy to spot, make sense even without context, and work well for everyone. The best links feel intuitive, giving users the freedom to chart their own path through your content.

Feedback

Feedback components are how interfaces acknowledge our actions and guide us gently forward. They satisfy our human need to be seen, heard, and helped—not just processed. This category includes alert banners and toast notifications, as well as other cues like dialogs, modals, inline messages, empty states, tooltips, and help text.

Together, these elements form a system of response. They let users know what just happened, what’s expected next, or what went wrong. They say, “You’re doing fine, here’s what to know,” or “We’ve got this, no need to worry.”

Alert Banners

These stick around until we acknowledge them, similar to finding a Post-it note on your computer screen. Alert banners catch our eye and guide us when we need to fix something, like when we forget to fill out a form field or our payment doesn't go through.

Snackbar

Snackbars are those quiet confirmations that pop up briefly—like a friend's reassuring nod. They show up just long enough to say "yes, that worked!" before disappearing. They respect our concentration, give feedback without demanding anything from us, and deliver that small hit of satisfaction when we complete a task.

These feedback elements mirror how people communicate in real life. When interfaces acknowledge our actions, they transform from cold technology into something that feels responsive and thoughtful—like someone's actually listening on the other end.

Inputs

Inputs are where users speak back to your product, where they type, click, select, and decide.
Good inputs feel intuitive because they understand what humans need. Just remember that real people with busy lives and limited time and mental energy are filling out your forms. When we design inputs as a conversation rather than just fields to fill, something shifts. The experience becomes less about "give me your data" and more about "let's figure this out together."

Text Fields

A well-designed text field is like a good listener—present, responsive, and clear about what it needs from you.

Your text fields should respond like an attentive conversation partner—acknowledging input with subtle visual feedback, suggesting corrections when something seems off, and confirming when everything looks right.

Checkboxes

Checkboxes are all about options and personalization. They let people say "I want this, this, and this - but not that. "
Group them in ways that make sense, like you would if you were explaining choices to a friend. Label them conversationally, not like technical manual instructions. Instead of saying "Select preferred notification methods," try something like "How would you like to hear from us?"

Radio Buttons

They're those crossroad moments where you have to pick exactly one path.
The best radio buttons feel like choices presented by someone who respects your time—clearly different from each other, arranged in a logical order, and grouped so the decision feels natural, not overwhelming. Nobody should have to re-read radio button options three times to figure out what they're choosing.

Switches

Switches are those satisfying interactions where cause and effect are immediate—like flipping a light switch and seeing a room illuminate. Seeing those messages helps turn uncertain waiting times into moments where we know what's happening and when things will be done.
A well-designed switch should feel just as satisfying in interfaces. That clear visual change from off to on should give you the same confident feeling as flipping a physical switch. Users should never wonder "did that actually do anything?" after toggling a switch.

This category also includes 15 components, from search and label to dropdown and date picker.

Navigations

Navigation components shape how we explore, how we find our way back, and how we understand where we are. This category includes everything from tabs and sidebars to page headers and breadcrumbs. Each one serves a specific role in organizing space and information.

Tabs

Imagine walking into an organized bookstore. It’s easy to find exactly what you're looking for without feeling overwhelmed. Tabs create this same feeling of orientation and clarity.
They let people move around at their own speed, jumping between sections without losing their place. Kind of like flipping through different chapters in a book you're getting to know.
When done right, information becomes something you can explore bit by bit, instead of trying to process everything at once.

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs help you keep track of where you are in a website or app. They show your journey ("Home > Projects > Q2 Reports") and let you step back to previous pages when needed. Breadcrumbs are particularly useful when you're deep in a complex site where it's easy to lose your bearings.

Status Indicators

The elements of this component keep users informed, anchored, and confident. They let people know what needs their attention and what’s moving forward, offering clarity at a glance. These components replace uncertainty with transparency, thus shaping the emotional tone of the experience.

Badges

Badges are those small visual elements that provide just enough information to trigger a decision—a number of unread messages, a "New" label, or a status indicator like "In Progress." At their best, badges help users instantly prioritize actions without requiring deeper exploration.

The art of badge design lies in hitting that sweet spot between visibility and subtlety—noticeable enough to communicate importance but restrained enough to avoid visual noise. Every design decision (color choice, position, typography, wording) carries meaning that can communicate varying levels of urgency, status changes, or required attention.

Effective badges create ambient awareness—those peripheral cues that let users maintain situational understanding without breaking their flow.

Progress Bars

Loading bars simply show how far along something is. Those little notification messages transform confusing wait times into a clearer experience where we understand what's happening and when it will finish.

Progress bars do more than just show status. When users are uploading files, installing programs, or working through multiple steps, they help you know where you are in the process, which makes waiting easier. When you can see how much time is left, users are more likely to stay patient and trust that the system is working properly.

This category also includes progress indicators. The main difference between progress bar and indicator is that the latter is a broader term that refers to any UI element that shows a task is in progress — including progress bars.

Conclusion

The feeling of intuitive rightness is the result of choices that put human needs at the center.

When buttons respond exactly as expected, when feedback feels like communication rather than system messages, when navigation feels like exploration rather than confusion—that's when you know your design system has achieved its most important goal: creating digital spaces that feel made for humans, by humans.