Design systems + UI kit = the power in your design journey

Meet PROTEUS, the game-changer & the best website design template

Parametric design is becoming a hot topic in software development, especially when it comes to design systems. Many development teams are increasingly interested in how this approach can streamline their work. We’re ready to address these frequently asked questions with insights from Călin, a UX/UI designer at BEECODED.

First question: What’s a design system? It’s essentially a toolbox of pre-made components and rules designed to ensure consistency and efficiency in digital projects, making the design and development process smoother and more cohesive.An example is Google’s Material Design system, which provides standardized components like buttons, cards, and typography for creating cohesive user interface designs across various platforms and devices.

Design systems: how to use its principles

1. Provide clarity and uniformity: to boost user trust and brand recognition, make sure all digital assets are uniform.

2. Simplify flexibility and efficiency: to speed up design and development processes and make it easier to adjust to changing project requirements, use pre-made components like buttons and color schemes, and website templates. 

3. Promote collaboration and alignment: integrate common rules and instruments into the design system to enable smooth cooperation between diverse groups, promoting unity and efficiency.

4. Manage growth and adjustment: accept the adaptable structure of design systems to enable the development and scalability of the project, reducing interruptions, and ensuring continuity.

5. Embrace inclusivity and accessibility: follow the design system’s accessibility rules to ensure that all users have equal access to digital content, thus promoting inclusivity and usability.

Design systems explained in phases

Yes, there are! The design system’s stages are the essential phases, from planning to maintenance. Every step is necessary for building and maintaining a functional digital toolkit.

The stages of a design system typically include:

1. Planning: defining the goals, scope, and audience of the design system.

2. Research: collecting data about brand identity, user needs, and current design assets.

3. Design: creating the visual elements, components, user interface design, and guidelines that will set the system.

4. Development: building the components and documentation, often using code and design tools.

5. Implementation: introducing the design system into projects and workflows, ensuring adherence and acceptability.

6. Maintenance: regularly updating and refining the design system to accommodate changes and improvements over time.

Design systems vs UI kits

Many people have become confused by several questions: are UI kits and design systems the same thing? What does each do? Do they depend on each other? Well, let’s find out that:

• A design system is like a rulebook that guides how everything in a digital project should look and work. It includes not just UI elements but also principles and guidelines. 

• A UI kit, on the other hand, is a ready-made set of UI elements like buttons and icons that can be used to quickly create interfaces. Think of it as a toolbox of design components for website templates. 

“Design system is a conglomerate that follows all the rules to generate a UI kit. Let’s think of it as a database containing colors, fonts, dimensions, shadows, animations, etc. They provide guidelines for the components of the UI kit. All UI kits are based on a design system.” – Călin

Figma design systems: the main challenge with UX/UI kits in 2024

Firstly, find out that a design system in Figma is a collection of components that can be reused; styles, and rules that support efficient and consistent design processes. It allows you to combine font styles, colors, and other design elements into a single, central location, along with user interface (UI) components like buttons, forms, and icons for a dashboard template.

Things look pretty good at the moment, but what is the issue that arises? The primary challenge currently confronting the creative team revolves around the use of UI kits.

Curious why? Well, it’s because the workflow of developers and designers frequently involves both the design system and the UI kit. However, the problem arises from the lack of synchronization between these two components.

Figma’s Design Kits and Developer Kits are super important for designers and developers. But some of these kits are old and tricky to learn. Here’s the thing: there are two separate kits, one for designers and one for developers, which can be a problem because they’re not always in sync.

Luckily, Figma has updates that make changes in design show up in development, too. But, there aren’t many kits that work well for both designers and developers. Even the popular Material Design Kit needs more updates and freedom.

So, designers end up using only a few examples, and sometimes they’re not explained well. And when Figma updates, it can mess everything up. Lots of website tools use UI kits, but they don’t give users many choices.

Want to learn more about web design or mobile app design? We’ve got you covered!

Introducing PROTEUS: the best option for both developers and designers

After hearing about the struggles of designers and developers with existing design systems and UI kits, Calin brings a game-changer: PROTEUS.

What’s PROTEUS? 

We get that developers and designers are having a hard time because the design system and UI kit don’t match up. This makes everything take longer whenever they need to make changes.

But here comes Proteus, a plugin that operates using AI. It operates like a plug-and-play tool. Once you’ve set its design elements, called parametric design, it will be able to synchronize the design system and UI kit.

Let’s picture a scenario. For instance, imagine you own a website with 100 pages, ranging from “About Us” to the most detailed UX design services. Each page has about 3 buttons, all of which are green. However, you’ve decided to change them to blue from now on.

Because the design system and UI kit aren’t in sync, you’ll have to change each button individually. How many would that be? 300?

Well, once you start using Proteus, this tool that manages to synchronize the design system with the UI kit, the entire process of changing those 300 buttons will just require a few clicks to complete.

Proteus integrates design and programming seamlessly.In the MVP, you’ll find both the design and the programming, built directly from the UI kit. When you update the design, the programming updates automatically. Everything stays synchronized, simplifying the entire process.

“The eternal problem between designer and developer: I can’t change that button, because the kit won’t let me.” ~ Calin

IProteus offers far more customization compared to other UI kits, which tend to be more restrictive. There’s no other engine like it on the market.

With other kits, you must figure out the kit’s structure to change your dashboard template or any page, often lacking proper documentation—creating frustration.

Proteus parameterizes everything and auto-generates documentation, making adjustments seamless. So, as a designer or developer, you don’t have to worry about documentation anymore.