Chapter 8 of 8 · Why I wrote this~2 minutes

A bill prompted me to ask myself how I would do it

In February 2026, a bill on a „sistem unic de design digital” (“single digital design system”) for public services was submitted to the Romanian Parliament. The Senate, the upper chamber, adopted it on 1 April 2026. It is now before the Chamber of Deputies, the lower chamber, which has the final say on it, under the number PL-x 300/2026. You can read it on the Chamber of Deputies website.

I read it carefully. And it challenged me.

What I value in it

The bill has one merit that I want to state from the outset: it has brought the subject into public debate. Some of its provisions go in the same direction as what I propose: open source code (art. 6(2)(g)), an annual public report (art. 6(2)(f)) and an independent evaluation (art. 11(4)).

Where I see things differently

Reading it, I realised that I was asking a different question: if we thought of this system not as an obligation but as a product for citizens, what would it look like?

• The product before the obligation. A design system is a living product, one that changes all the time. I believe a law should give it a mandate, money and accountability, not set a deadline for something that does not exist yet.
• In stages, with evidence. I believe it has to be built gradually, tried out on real services and extended only if it works.
• Collaboration, with clear rules. The state is accountable, a permanent team builds, universities and companies help, but companies do not decide the standard.
• For absolutely everyone, from day one. Accessibility and multiple languages are not added at the end; they are built in from the start.
• People have a say. Anyone who runs into a problem must be able to report it and get an answer within a clear deadline.

The detailed comparison, point by point, is in The bill and this vision.

How I worked

I wanted my answer to be backed by arguments, not just an opinion. So I started from research:

• I followed the bill’s entire journey, through the 24 official documents in the files of the Senate and the Chamber;
• I analysed how the other 26 EU member states went about it, reading their official acts;
• I studied the American system (USWDS) and that of the Republic of Moldova;
• I gathered the Romanian rules that already exist: the laws on institutions’ websites, on accessibility, on the symbols of the state, and the Government’s visual identity guide.

In total, more than 370 source documents. All the references are on the What it is based on page.

I used artificial intelligence to help me search for and collect the documents. What I kept, how I interpreted it and what I propose were my own decisions, based on my experience in the field. The details are on the What it is based on page. I also translated the site into English and Hungarian with the help of artificial intelligence; the Hungarian version is still waiting to be checked by a native speaker.

What this website is and what it is not

It is a personal vision, written to open a public discussion: an option concrete enough to be discussed, criticised and improved.

It is not:

• an official state project;
• an initiative of any party, or a reaction to any party;
• a commercial offer. I have no commercial interests related to this subject.

I do not claim that this is the only solution, or that every detail here is final. The bill opened the discussion. I think the important question is not only whether Romania needs a design system, but how we build it so that it still works ten years from now. And so that Ana, on any ordinary evening, finds the same buttons and the same clear messages on every state website, and her mother can use the service on her own.

About me

My name is Andrei Barbu and I have worked in digital product design for almost 20 years. I started with graphic design, then designed interfaces for computer security applications. For 15 years I have worked at a global cybersecurity company, on desktop, mobile and web applications for everyday users, some of them award-winning.

Today I lead design teams and I am responsible for modular design systems, AI-assisted workflows and the handover from design to code, for products and campaigns localised into several languages. From experience, I know how much a common set of building blocks and rules matters: the same quality is achieved faster, more consistently and more accessibly. I believe that is what the state needs too.

This website is a personal project. It does not represent the position of my employer.

Contact

If you have an opinion, a correction or an idea, I would like to hear it. You can write to me at salut (at) statulonline.ro.

If you find a mistake in the figures or in the references to the law, tell me and I will correct it, with a note on the updates page.

First published: 21 October 2026. Last updated: 22 October 2026.