Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

Modular design at work

Alla Kholmatova
September 14, 2015

Modular design at work

As many of us move away from designing pages toward designing systems, one concept keeps coming up: modularity. The benefits of a modular approach are well covered, but what about the risks and the logistics of implementing it?

Modularity might appear to be a simple concept at first, but making it work for your team requires significant effort and commitment. In this session Alla will look at how modular design affects both our teams and our users, as well as the products we create. She’ll share some of the challenges her team’s gone through while transitioning their design process toward modularity, and the lessons they’ve learned on the way.

Presented at SmashingConf Freiburg.

Alla Kholmatova

September 14, 2015
Tweet

More Decks by Alla Kholmatova

Other Decks in Design

Transcript

  1. We’re not designing pages, we’re designing systems of components. Stephen

    Hay, Responsive Design Workflow “ Modularity matters now more than ever. Brad Frost, Atomic Design “
  2. By naming objects we bring them into existence… we draw

    them out from nothingness. James Britton, Language & Learning “
  3. Start with the big picture. Define patterns. Then use those

    patterns as foundation for modular pages.
  4. Set up your pattern library as an environment where UI

    decisions are made, not just documented.
  5. When pieces are so easy to re-arrange, how do you

    achieve balance and tell a coherent story?
  6. Integrated Modular Flexibility for exceptions Few shared components No need

    to reconfigure Low flexibility for exceptions Many shared components Need to reconfigure
  7. Focus not only on the technical efficiency, but the effect

    modularity will have on your users’ experience.