If you’re reading this, you’re probably looking for system design differences, user interface component libraries (user interface kits), and brand style guides. You may want to know which of these tools suits your organization’s needs.
In this article from the educational magazine, we will discuss what these three topics are, we will understand the needs, differences, and similarities of these three and we will know their application for organizations. Stay with us.
Table of Contents
Brand style guide
A brand Style Guide or Style Guide describes the brand language of organizations in design for users. This document is used for designing web products and printed products such as magazines. The content of this guide usually includes instructions about the logo, color palette, typography, symbols, brand tone in terms of content, important grammar rules, and appropriate images for the product.
The purpose of the brand style guide is actually to be a reference for all those who are in charge of the development of new projects and products of the organization. Suppose a website intends to design and build an application. The designer or programming team can use the approved colors and logo or symbols specified in this document using this document.
The brand style guide usually starts with the definition of concepts such as brand identity, organization goals, values, personality characteristics of the organization, etc. The importance of a brand style guide becomes clear when a team is going to make a decision or define a new concept for a new product. This guide will help them make a decision that is consistent with their previous plans.
Library of user interface components
The library of user interface components, although it is a complicated phrase in literal translation, in the work of this document, it is a communication bridge between developers, or in other words, between the technical team and the product design team.
UI Component Library, which is also known as a user interface kit, is a dedicated folder or project of designs and components that can be used in the website, software, or application that the organization intends to develop or build. This project consists of compatible or responsive components so that programmers can easily use the components in the desired product by copying its codes.
Unlike the brand style guide, the user interface component library has an operational aspect. The user interface components library is a dedicated folder where the programmed designs are kept and is no longer a place to make fundamental changes. In this folder, the layout of buttons, components, and even product headers and footers can be included.
System design
The concepts introduced in the previous paragraphs are the components of the system design. The system design of the storage platform, checks and uses all the elements that make up the whole product design. It doesn’t matter whether these elements are digital or physical products.
Design is a much broader and more detailed hybrid system than the user interface library and brand style guide. The major difference between the system design and the user interface kit is the possibility of extensive updating in this system. The system design is a version of your product that no user except the product team and developers can see.
Reasons for using system design
One of the important reasons for using this system is the ease of updating the plan in a partial and general way. Developers can change multiple pages at the same time with system design. This saves time and money. The design of the system makes the simultaneous and objective result of the combination of user interface and user experience visible and increases its productivity.
Working in system design with atomic design methodology is applicable. In this method, the components of a design are divided into the smallest elements. Atoms make molecules and molecules make patterns. By dividing design elements into a structure like this, any graphic change is applied to all parts and the development team does not have to update the structure piece by piece to change a button.
Another advantage of system design is its collaborative nature. Since the designs are executed in one platform, several designers can work on it at the same time. Developers can add their comments or questions to any part they want and it will be specified in a common document between several product teams.
In system design, usually the design team also writes an explanation for the use or type of implementation and application of a part for the programming team. This issue is also an important and undeniable advantage that promotes communication between teams and project execution with higher speed and accuracy.
Comparison of system design, user interface kit, and brand guide
All these tools and documents are created with the goal of better communication between teams and ultimately quality output. For a better comparison and to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each, we will continue to compare them.
Application in digital projects
System design and user interface kits are both created for digital products. That is, their output is not useful in visual projects such as posters, or even social network posts.
On the other hand, the brand style guide is a conceptual document that can be referenced for any graphic design and content. The Brand Style Guide is not immediately usable. Its construction and development are time-consuming and require various meetings and brainstorming between brand development, marketing, and product development specialists. Of course, the creation of such a document can be the basis for the design of the system and the user interface kit.
Tool kit for content, design, and programming teams
Similarly, user interface kits and system designs are created for product development in terms of user interface and programming. In these two tools, there are no guidelines for content strategy and marketing to use in the tone of the brand.
On the other hand, programmers rarely use a brand style guide document, because the designer creates what needs to be coded, and the programmer implements the design. Designers cannot directly change the user interface kit, because that kit is provided to the programmer as a folder and is not collaborative like system design.
Development and maintenance of product designs
It seems that implementing system design is the best and easiest way to reach the final plan, but organizations will reach their desired result in system design by creating a simpler brand style guide document. The matter is very simple. Even starting directly with system design, you still need to discuss brand style and hammer out UI, UX, and brand strategies.
Generally, organizations start their product design by designing the user interface kit first and then move to the system design. Naturally, having all the components of the system design, one of which is the user interface kit, makes the work of the product development team easier.
At the same time, updating the user interface kit should also be considered. With the change in the system design, the user interface file kit also needs to be updated because the previous files cannot be saved and must be changed. So the final designs should be done and then proceed to build the user interface kit. Of course, keep in mind that some changes are inevitable during the execution of the project. Here, the management according to the situation of each product has the final say.
Updating the brand style guide is a time-consuming and difficult task, as it requires dialogue with all parts of the organization. This document is the reference for every development and design in your product, so its growth and updating never end.
The style guide document is the brand identity of your product, which is updated like a living organism every day, month, or season under the supervision of each team.
The Effect of Tools on project implementation
Each of the mentioned tools has a different role in the implementation of the project. The brand style guide is a reference book that is used during product development and startup to refer to it and ensure the right development path. Experts understand the path by studying it once and may forget it completely in the future.
The library of user interface components does not have such a feature. They are right in the middle of the story and have an operational nature. Product design and development specialists refer to it every day and use its components to finalize the various parts of the product they are making.
System design has a collaborative nature. Every moment, the developer or designer expresses his question or opinion by referring to the platform in which the system design is built and gets the answer. Checks the dimensions or colors of the built frame of the website or application with the defined color palette.