Encountering a well-designed website is always a pleasure. The balance in design, layout, animations, fonts, and
colours creates a harmonious visual experience. However, occasionally, inconsistencies sneak in. This is a common
issue in many websites. How can we eliminate these UI inconsistencies without incurring a hefty cost? In this
blog, we will explore the benefits of integrating design systems into UI development and how it helps maintain a
consistent UI/UX while streamlining the development process.
Design to UI: Shortfalls of the traditional approach
Understanding the causes of UI inconsistencies is crucial before delving into a solution. Typically, the UX and
designs are created first and then handed over to the development team. Some UI/UX designers focus solely on
creating designs while leaving the more technical aspects to be understood and executed by developers. When
handing off designs to developers, failure to clearly define common design elements can result in redundant
styling for similar components. This, in turn, leads to inconsistencies in the user interface, potentially
creating a maintenance nightmare. Additionally, poorly documented design standards can lead to chaos within the
design team, especially when multiple designers contribute to the same project. Fortunately, more designers are
now documenting colour definitions and even sharing them with developers, which aids in consolidating styles.
Design System: The Solution for UI Consistency
A Design System sets standards and guidelines for visual and interaction elements in a user interface. This
encompasses a consistent colour palette, typography definitions, spacing, and size guidelines. It establishes a
uniform design language for an organization's websites, ensuring consistency even with changing designers or an
expanded UI design team. With the help of a Design System, experienced UI developers can design simple pages and controls themselves without involving a designer. Thus, a design system helps manage designs at scale. Many larger organizations with multiple websites or applications have already started implementing design systems for their sites.
Theming as a way to implement Design System
The conventional approach consolidates style definitions for common website elements within a site-level
stylesheet. However, in today's scenario, completely custom components are rarely used exclusively. Instead,
developers often opt for a component library like Bootstrap or MUI and customize it to align with their design
language. This
customization is typically achieved through the application of custom CSS classes on top of the component library
classes or by directly overriding these library classes. While this approach may suffice in many instances, it
often results in style conflicts that can be challenging to debug.
Furthermore, this approach disregards the thoughtful design choices made by the creators of the component libraries, which is not the desired outcome. Many component libraries like Material, MUI, and Kendo have recognized the
significance of design systems and have started providing strong support for the same through theming. This
ensures a more
streamlined and efficient approach to UI development.
Let us explore this concept further through a case study.
Case study: Theming Kendo UI for Hospital Management System
We recently undertook the task of developing a complex Hospital Management System using Angular and Kendo UI components. Given the
project's scope and timeline, a design system was imperative. Designers utilized Kendo's Figma design kits for
Material UI as a starting point, customizing colours and visual elements to align with the design language.
Developers then utilized the Kendo Theme Builder to apply these customizations to the component library. This
effort yielded significant benefits:
- Established uniform design language among designers.
- Fostered alignment between designers and developers.
- Enhanced UI consistency.
- Elevated overall UI quality.
- Reduced development time.
- Enhanced efficiency and effectiveness of quality checks.
Incorporating Design Systems into UI development can effectively address the common problem of inconsistent user
interfaces, bringing about significant improvements. By addressing the shortcomings of traditional approaches,
Design Systems provide a clear and standardized framework for UI elements. This ensures consistency across
projects and facilitates scalability and collaborative design efforts. Using theming to implement Design Systems
makes it easier to customize component libraries, reducing the reliance on makeshift solutions. Embracing Design
Systems elevates the quality of user experiences and streamlines the UI/UX development process, making it more
efficient, effective, and adaptable for both designers and developers alike. Explore our
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