Building and Customizing Your Design System with Untitled UI

Overview

• Objective: Setting up and customizing a design system using Untitled UI for a new client and personal project.
• Platforms: Streamed updates on YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitch, X.

Initial Setup and Testing

• Confirmed proper streaming on different platforms (YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitch, X).
• Audience engagement: Viewers asked to say hi in the chat.
• Introduced the session’s goal: redesigning an own website and setting up a design system for a new client.

Introduction to Untitled UI

• Foundation: Well-documented and includes foundations, shared components, assets, and various UI elements.
• Resource-Intensive: The file is memory-heavy, requiring splitting into separate files.
• Versions: Uses Untitled UI version 5 with local variables and different versions (variable version, layer style version, simple version).
• Components and Examples: Includes marketing websites, application components, page examples, etc.

File Splitting and Setup

• Core File: Main file for foundation and shared components.
• Marketing and Application Components: Split into separate files for better memory management and modularity.
• Linking Files: Ensured proper linking of component files to retain dynamic updates and minimize broken links.
• Publishing Updates: Published libraries after moving components to ensure everything stays connected.

Customizing Colors and Typography

• Brand Colors: Replaced standard Untitled UI colors with personal brand colors (dark green and yellow for call-to-actions).
• Typography: Used the Batch Styler plugin to update fonts for a personal brand font.
• Complex Setup: Noted the structure and challenges in updating fonts, ensuring correct linking and cascading changes.

Handling Components and Variables

• Inputs Example: Created new variants for larger input fields by copying and renaming layers using a plugin, adjusting vertical spacing.
• Dynamic Buttons: Updated buttons in primary and secondary colors and made sure to contrast correctly for accessibility.
• Primitives and Variables: Ensured consistent and functional linking of variables across different components.

Publishing and Testing Updates

• Challenges Faced: Issues with syncing updates across different files, confirming and publishing changes multiple times.
• Progress: Successfully set up and updated core components, ready for future landing pages and application use.
• Iterative Process: Noted the painstaking but necessary process of initial setup for long-term gains.

Additional Notes and Follow-Up

• Next Steps: Sharing the final setup, understanding potential issues in variable linking, and offering a compact edited version of this session.
• Engagement: Encouraged further interaction and queries, confirming the value of setting up such a system.

Conclusion

• Despite challenges, setting up a design system with Untitled UI creates a strong foundation for future consistency and efficiency in design projects.