Are the demands on your design team increasing? Is your design team growing and having a hard time keeping up with those demands? If you said “yes and yes,” it might be time to consider investing in a UI library.
User expectations are driving up your design workload.
We all rely increasingly on digital technologies at home and work. Your users interact with tiny AI speakers, huge smart TVs, and all sizes in between. They expect a seamless experience across every one of those touchpoints. When COVID-19 arrived, reliance on digital products increased even more. With the majority of the world stuck inside at home, more people are turning to their devices for work and entertainment around the clock.
Delivering the boundless, frictionless experience users expect is the job of the UX team. While many users won’t notice good design decisions, terrible experiences create painful and memorable moments that can cause users to turn away. Creating a pleasant and seamless experience takes effort and time — time that you might not have. You need documentation and tools to streamline work. That’s when a UI library can help.
What is a UI library and how can it help?
You may hear a UI library called many things: design system, pattern library, style guide, or component library. (We go into more details in an updated blog post.) Though their specific details vary, these are all evolving sets of digital patterns that live in a centralized repository. A well-maintained library of elements includes 75% of your products’ most common design patterns and elements. Designers and developers use libraries to keep consistency across screens, label and document assets for a shared language, provide pixel-perfect code, and minimize repetitive work on similar pages and patterns.
A library becomes especially valuable when multiple groups of people all work together on the same brand or project. The more players at the table, the more individual preferences there are — and the more room there is for inconsistency. That’s why teams struggle to maintain a common UX vision as headcount grows. But, if executed well, a library can help manage these difficulties. Libraries set up the team for a win-win; they spend less time in the minutia and more time on the big ideas.
Not only does your team win with libraries, but so does your customer. Users need time to learn a new product or service. Using familiar design patterns across experiences can speed up adoption rates. Similar patterns help lower the cognitive burden that gets in the way of a customer completing a task.
Is there a catch with UI libraries?
It can’t all be sunshine and daisies right?! The truth is, libraries take time and resources to set-up and manage. You may find it hard to convince leaders to make such an investment. But, you can trust your ROI will pay dividends with a lot less “bog” within your design team. Less bog means more efficiency and more open bandwidth. And, think about what you could do with more time! For one thing, that extra time could create more opportunities to tackle bigger ideas that transform the future state of your company.
You may decide a UI library would benefit your team, but your day-to-day obligations keep you from finding the time to build one. In that case, an outside agency might be helpful. They can analyze your design standards and deliver the initial state of your library, while your in-house team keeps the lights on with your regular design responsibilities. With the heavy work of building version 1.0 done, your team can take ownership by making incremental improvements over time.
Looking for a little inspiration?
Plenty of large organizations make their libraries public, so you can browse and get ideas. Here are a few of our favorites:
Are you ready to invest in a UX library? Do you have questions? Contact us at (737) 201-6300 or info@slideux.com.