Why does the company need a UI KIT? (Frontend + Design)
Tags: Figma, JavaScript, Design, Frontend, React

Why does the company need a UI KIT? (Frontend + Design)

Hi! I am Vlad Savin, and this is KOTELOV.com! In this article, I’ll tell you what a UI KIT is, what it’s for, and how it will save your time and money. KOTELOV.com Dec 18, 2020·5 min read

In this article, we will look at kits that were made by designers, and translated into components by front-end developers.

What is a UI KIT?

This is a single set of user interface elements. It looks something like this:

What it is for?

1. Single style for all projects

All of your information systems will be identical. Customers will recognize your company by identical elements. For them, it will also be more comfortable working with each of your new products, as they will be familiar with all the elements and behavior thereof.

“Starting a project always involves creating the first basic elements of a UI KIT based on an approved concept.

The main reason is the unification of interface elements, which reduces and simplifies the work in future complex projects, to avoid errors later. It also helps coordinate work with developers to get the uniform design on different pages of the same project.

Fortunately for us, the time of Photoshop has passed and Sketch (to the delight of the Macbook users), and later — Figma have appeared in the market and immensely simplified the work for the designer. Everyone’s favorite components made it possible to make changes many times faster, literally in one click. All this allows you not to switch across all screens and check where the color has changed and where not”

Andrey Zaletov

Senior UI/UX designer at KOTELOV.com

2. Savings on Development

If there is no kit, the companies shall fill out a brief when hiring a contractor, who in turn, develops a design from scratch, and then creates components on JavaScript frameworks (Angular, React, Vue). That is, the customer each time pays for the design and programming of the same frontend elements to different contractors, and what is interesting, all the elements are different in design and code, thereby preventing us from scaling. In the case of a kit, you pay only once.

3. Instant access to the UI KIT for the entire team

Analysts, designers, and developers have access to the kit via the link. They can independently get to know all the elements, the rules for their use, and create prototypes, frontend, and design.

4. Development speed

With a ready-made UI KIT, you have all the elements, such as buttons, input fields, tables, and charts already designed and translated into components (in JS). You can build systems without wasting time on design and development. Prototyping is also simplified. While earlier you used to make prototypes out of simple shapes, now you can make them from a real design.

Why is it important to make a UI KIT if a button or field can be drawn and programmed quickly enough?

Most users see the button as just a rectangle with text in the middle:

Here’s what the button code on React looks like:

This is what a handy button, which makes the interaction with the system convenient looks like:

This is what the healthy person button code looks like:

That is, the development of any seemingly simple element is a long and expensive work (if you make it convenient and scalable), therefore it is easier to draw and program each element once and then use them in all projects. A UI Kit for a developer is a set of components on which your service’s UI is built. In simple terms, it’s a visualization of each component for different user actions. User Interface Kit is used to simplify, unify, and comprehensively implement large projects. It allows to quickly and efficiently create more complex interfaces. Igor Lysenko Team lead frontend developer at KOTELOV

Can I use a ready-made UI KIT?

There are a lot of kits on the Internet for a little money, something about $15. You can definitely use them. However, they are more suitable for small projects that are not going to scale far or if your company is supposed to make one system, rather than build a lot of products.

The main reasons for building rather than buying a UI KIT

1. Large companies bring all systems to a single kind so that employees and users navigate easily in any system of the company;

2. Companies need to adhere to corporate identity;

3. When buying a UI KIT, you need to start from the technology embedded in that kit purchased;

4. The purchased kit cannot cover all the functionality of the systems, that is, you will need to finish and refine it; and

5. When building a UI KIT from scratch you fully see the purpose of the development. That is, you will be able to develop elements based on the task, making each element more convenient.

UI KIT developer requirements:

A UI KIT is developed only by a Senior-level designer and developer who have experience in such projects. The designer and frontend developer must have the experience and knowledge to build complex systems since the UI KIT will be used for about 5 years by all your company’s development teams and the contractors involved for most of your systems.

Otherwise, just contact KOTELOV :)

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