system-design pattern
RESHADED Framework
A structured approach to system design interviews covering all eight essential components from requirements to decision-making.
Time
O(interview) - 45-60 minutes
Space
Whiteboard or shared doc
🧠Mental Model
“Building a house - first understand what the family needs, estimate materials, design the blueprint, then build and refine.”
Verbal cue: Requirements → Estimations → Storage → High-level → APIs → Deep-dives → Evaluation → Decisions
🎯Recognition Triggers
When you see these patterns in a problem, consider this approach:
design a systemarchitectscalabledistributedhigh availability
💡Interview Tips
- 1Spend first 5 minutes on requirements - it shows maturity
- 2Always mention trade-offs for each decision
- 3Draw diagrams - visual communication is key
⚠️Common Mistakes
- ✕Jumping to solution without clarifying requirements
- ✕Not doing back-of-envelope calculations
- ✕Ignoring non-functional requirements (scale, latency)