Greetings, and happy new year! It's early enough in the year that I can still say that, right? If you reach back in your memory banks, you may recall signing up for updates on my Atomic Design book. It's been a long time and I'm long overdue for an update.
Last year I traveled 111,075 miles to over 56 cities in 15 countries on 4 continents for talks & workshops, and was working on a bunch of projects all the while. This year is no different. Between all my client work and travel, it's tough to get writing done. But the good news is that I'm making a lot of progress and am getting close to finishing the manuscript. As soon as the manuscript is complete I'll be working with an editor to tighten up the language and bring the book home.
Since it's been a while, I'll give you an update on what I've been writing about.
Chapter 3: Pattern Library Tools
Chapter 3 of the book focuses on the available tools for creating effective design systems, and discusses the key qualities of a useful pattern library. Throughout the chapter I use Pattern Lab to demonstrate the useful features of pattern library tools, but the concepts I discuss apply to any style guide tool you happen to choose. Here are some of the key sections I cover in Chapter 3:
At the end of the day, it’s not about the tools we use to create pattern libraries, but rather how we use them. There are tons of tools out there, so find the ones that allows your team to do their best work.
Chapter 4: The Atomic Workflow
Wow, I was not expecting this chapter to get this big! But being that this chapter details everything that goes into making an effective interface design system, I suppose the length makes sense. It covers selling people on the idea of design systems, introducing some important principles, setting up a more collaborative workflow, and detailing the tactics of building a design system from the ground up. Here's what's covered:
The remainder of the chapter will detail how to transform your initial design explorations into robust, flexible, and comprehensive design systems. I'll cover iterating in the browser, the modern role of Photoshop and other static design tools, and when to codify patterns.
Oh, and big news! There will now be a Chapter 5 of Atomic Design. Originally, I was going to include all that goes into successfully maintaining a design system in Chapter 4, but I quickly realized that's a topic that deserves its own chapter. So I'm excited to dive into that. Stay tuned!
Resources
Over the last few months, tons of great resources have been added to Styleguides.io, so be sure to come through the examples, articles, tools, and more.
Dan Mall discusses the difference between content and display patterns and explains their crucial relationship. I'm currently working with Dan on a project, and needless to say I'm thrilled to be around his smarts.
Jeffrey Zeldman discusses how pattern-based thinking is an evolution of web standards, reinforcing the separation of concerns the web standards movement found so hard to establish.
I'm working on a project right now where I found myself asking the frontend team all sorts of questions about their principles, tools, workflows, and general setup. That inspired me to put together a questionnaire that helps teams codify their practices and establish their own front-end style guides.
Holy smokes, there's going to be a conference dedicated to style guides and pattern libraries! I'm super excited to head to San Francisco and be a part of the event. Hope to see you there!
Until next time!
That's what I have for now. You can follow along with project updates here. And if you would like to support the project (and haven't done so already), you can preorder the book here for $10. If you have any questions or have any feedback for me, feel free to contact me via email or on Twitter.
Thanks again for supporting Atomic Design!
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