Design System in Practice: How Indie Devs Start Small and Ship Faster

For years, I avoided the phrase "design system" like the plague. It felt like something only huge corporations needed—a colossal undertaking involving dedicated teams, endless documentation, and rigid guidelines. Frankly, as an indie dev, I thought, "Ain't nobody got time for that!" But here's the thing: shipping apps fast and maintaining consistency is crucial for us. So, how do we strike a balance?

In this post, I'll share my journey of building a practical, lightweight design system for my projects, starting small and scaling as needed. You’ll learn how to identify the low-hanging fruit, choose the right tools, and build a component library that actually helps you ship faster, without getting bogged down in unnecessary complexity.

TL;DR: Start with a small set of reusable UI components (buttons, inputs, typography styles) in your existing project. Extract them into a separate library when you see a pattern. Iterate and expand as your needs grow.

The Problem: Cowboy Coding vs. Polished Product

Let's be clear: I used to be a cowboy coder. I'd dive headfirst into a new project, slapping together UI elements with inline styles and hardcoded values. It was fast (initially), but the long-term consequences were brutal:

Inconsistent UI: Buttons looked different across pages, text sizes were all over the place, and the overall visual experience felt disjointed.
Maintenance Nightmare: Making a small change to the brand color required hunting down every instance in the codebase.
Reduced Velocity: Copying and pasting UI code between projects became a tedious and error-prone process.

I knew I needed a better way. I dreamed of a world where I could build beautiful, consistent UIs without sacrificing speed. I knew a design system was the answer, but the idea of building one from scratch felt overwhelming.

My First (Failed) Attempt: Over-Engineering the "Perfect" System

Like any good developer, I started by researching the best practices and tools for building design systems. I read articles, watched tutorials, and even took a course on the subject. I was determined to build the perfect system, complete with comprehensive documentation, automated testing, and a fancy style guide.

I spent weeks setting up the infrastructure, choosing colors, defining typography scales, and creating a library of meticulously crafted components. I used Storybook for component documentation, styled-components for CSS-in-JS, and Jest for unit testing. It was a technical marvel, almost.

The problem? I never actually used it!

I was so focused on building the perfect system that I lost sight of the actual goal: shipping apps. By the time I had finished setting everything up, I had completely lost momentum on my project. I was burnt out, and the design system felt like a burden rather than a tool.

I realized I had made a classic mistake: over-engineering before understanding the real needs. I had built a system that was too complex, too rigid, and too disconnected from my actual workflow.

The Solution: Start Small, Iterate Often

I decided to take a different approach. Instead of trying to build a complete design system upfront, I would start small and iterate as needed. I focused on the most common UI elements in my existing project:

Buttons: Primary, secondary, and tertiary styles.
Inputs: Text fields, checkboxes, and radio buttons.
Typography: Headings, body text, and labels.
Colors: A basic palette of primary, secondary, and accent colors.

Here's how I implemented this approach:

Identify Reusable Components: I went through my codebase and identified the UI elements that were used most frequently.
Create a Component Library: I created a new folder in my project called "components" and started extracting these reusable elements into separate files.
Use a Component-First Approach: I focused on building each component as a self-contained, reusable unit with clear props and documentation.
Adopt Component Driven Development: I focused on identifying, testing and using core components across the application.
Style with CSS Modules: I found CSS Modules offered a good balance between flexibility and maintainability for styling my components. Each component had its own CSS file, which kept the styles scoped and prevented conflicts.
Document with Comments: I added comments to my components to explain how they worked and what props they accepted.
Iterate and Refactor: As I used the components in my project, I identified areas for improvement and refactored them accordingly.

This iterative approach allowed me to gradually build a design system that met my actual needs, without getting bogged down in unnecessary complexity.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Open-Source Force Multipliers

While I was building my component library, I also explored existing open-source UI component libraries. I'm a huge fan of leveraging existing tools and libraries whenever possible. Why reinvent the wheel?

After evaluating several options, I decided to use a headless UI library.

Headless UI: This library provides a set of unstyled UI components that you can style yourself. This gave me the flexibility to customize the components to match my brand, while still benefiting from the library's accessibility and functionality.

Using a headless UI library allowed me to save time and effort on building basic UI components, while still maintaining control over the look and feel of my application.

I also used tools such as:

Prettier: For code formatting.
ESLint: For code linting.
TypeScript: For static typing.

These tools helped me maintain a consistent code style and prevent errors, which further improved my development velocity.

The Workflow: From Idea to Implementation

Here's my typical workflow for building and using my design system:

Identify a Need: When I'm working on a new feature, I start by identifying the UI elements that I'll need.
Check the Component Library: I check my component library to see if I already have a component that meets my needs.
Reuse or Create: If I have a suitable component, I reuse it. If not, I create a new component, following the guidelines outlined above.
Document and Test: I document the new component with comments and add unit tests to ensure it works as expected.
Refactor and Iterate: As I use the component in my project, I identify areas for improvement and refactor it accordingly.

This workflow ensures that my design system is always evolving to meet my changing needs.

Lessons Learned and Future Plans

Building a design system is an ongoing process. I'm constantly learning and refining my approach. Here are a few key lessons I've learned along the way:

Start Small: Don't try to build a complete design system upfront. Focus on the most common UI elements and iterate as needed.
Be Pragmatic: Don't get bogged down in unnecessary complexity. Choose tools and techniques that are appropriate for your needs.
Embrace Open Source: Leverage existing open-source UI component libraries and tools to save time and effort.
Iterate and Refactor: Continuously improve your design system based on your actual usage.
Documentation is Key: Document your components with clear comments and examples.

My plans for the future include:

Centralize Styles: Explore ways to centralize and manage styles more effectively, possibly with tools like Theme UI or Styled System.
Expand Component Coverage: Add more components to my library, focusing on complex UI patterns and interactions.
Improve Documentation: Create a more comprehensive documentation website using Storybook or a similar tool.

Conclusion: Design Systems for Everyone

Building a design system doesn't have to be a daunting task. By starting small, being pragmatic, and leveraging existing tools, indie devs can create a practical and lightweight design system that helps them ship faster, maintain consistency, and improve the overall quality of their applications.

The hardest part wasn't the code; it was the mindset shift—realizing that a good enough design system, used consistently, is far better than a perfect design system that never gets used. It's about finding the sweet spot between flexibility and structure, between speed and consistency.

So, what's your favorite approach to building reusable UI components? What tools and techniques do you find most helpful? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences on your platform of choice—I'd love to hear how you're tackling this challenge!