Design System Chronicles
Post #1 - Why Tenet UI | Post #2 - Setting up colours | Post #3 - Organizing variables
For consultancies, agencies and freelancers every project may present a unique challenge, but the fact is foundational design workflows would remain the same. Starting from ground zero to build every component and foundational style guides time after time could drain time and creativity. Working in a consultancy myself, where I help create and maintain the Design System (in Figma) I see the value that a Design System provides. From inefficient workflows, inconsistent products to slow turn around times, with a Design System all aspects see an upswing. This, of course, highlights the workflow benefits, in addition to the obvious advantages of a design system in creating a high-quality product.
I thought to myself, why not embark on creating a UI kit/Design System (Figma) as a personal project.
The aim with Tenet-UI is three fold
To build a UI kit/design system (Figma) that solves design challenges:
Streamlining workflows
Cutting design time in half
Make it developer friendly (building a code-aligned UI kit)
I have thirst for diving deeper into the craft of design. I’ve also been fascinated by how small improvements can transform workflows. With Tenet UI, I saw an opportunity to:
Explore design hacks that make processes faster and more effective.
Implement concepts like design tokens and accessible components to ensure the system is future-proof.
Learn through doing and share those learnings with others. This, by far, has been the main drive behind building Tenet UI. I love teaching and I see this as an opportunity to document and share my approach so other designers can learn how to build their own systems. Also, along the way I could build a micro-education series of sorts.
As part of the want to make this a learning journey, this series would be a chronicle of this Design system project. As I write this, I have made significant inroads (you could read some case studies here) creating Tenet UI. However, its a work that is still in progress and I see this as an opportunity to revisit what I may have done so far and improve upon the work that has been done.