Alegra’s design system
Alegra’s design system
Alegra’s design system
Alegra’s design system

Smile

Smile

Smile

Smile

ROLE / SERVICES

Design & Handoff

Project type

Design system

COMPANY & location

Alegra / Latam

ROLE / SERVICES

Design & Handoff

Project type

Design system

COMPANY & location

Alegra / Latam

ROLE / SERVICES

Design & Handoff

Project type

Design system

COMPANY & location

Alegra / Latam

ROLE / SERVICES

Design & Handoff

Project type

Design system

COMPANY & location

Alegra / Latam

BEFORE WE START

INTRODUCTION

BEFORE WE START

INTRODUCTION

BEFORE WE START

INTRODUCTION

BEFORE WE START

INTRODUCTION

The project

Iterate and build Alegra's Design system, Smile UI; a closed-source design system that would give designers and developers the tools they need to create engaging product experiences.

The project

Iterate and build Alegra's Design system, Smile UI; a closed-source design system that would give designers and developers the tools they need to create engaging product experiences.

The project

Iterate and build Alegra's Design system, Smile UI; a closed-source design system that would give designers and developers the tools they need to create engaging product experiences.

The project

Iterate and build Alegra's Design system, Smile UI; a closed-source design system that would give designers and developers the tools they need to create engaging product experiences.

The challenge

Create a design system from scratch, from the base elements to the components, and ensure that once the components have been built and the complexity has been added, any designer or developer can still easily understand the design system.

The challenge

Create a design system from scratch, from the base elements to the components, and ensure that once the components have been built and the complexity has been added, any designer or developer can still easily understand the design system.

The challenge

Create a design system from scratch, from the base elements to the components, and ensure that once the components have been built and the complexity has been added, any designer or developer can still easily understand the design system.

The challenge

Create a design system from scratch, from the base elements to the components, and ensure that once the components have been built and the complexity has been added, any designer or developer can still easily understand the design system.

The process

Add Design thinking to constantly improve the design system and get ongoing feedback from all teams. It began with discussions and brainstorms with the team to truly figure out what needed to be in the Design System.

The process

Add Design thinking to constantly improve the design system and get ongoing feedback from all teams. It began with discussions and brainstorms with the team to truly figure out what needed to be in the Design System.

The process

Add Design thinking to constantly improve the design system and get ongoing feedback from all teams. It began with discussions and brainstorms with the team to truly figure out what needed to be in the Design System.

The process

Add Design thinking to constantly improve the design system and get ongoing feedback from all teams. It began with discussions and brainstorms with the team to truly figure out what needed to be in the Design System.

01

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Chapter
Chapter
Chapter

Design tokens

Design tokens

Design tokens

Design tokens

(Smile tokens)

Creating design tokens

(Smile tokens)

Creating design tokens

(Smile tokens)

Creating design tokens

(Smile tokens)

Creating design tokens

What are design tokens?

These are the foundations of any design system. Tokens consist of values needed to construct and maintain a design system, such as spacing, color, typography, border radius, and breakpoints. Creating a design token for this design system takes two steps.

What are design tokens?

These are the foundations of any design system. Tokens consist of values needed to construct and maintain a design system, such as spacing, color, typography, border radius, and breakpoints. Creating a design token for this design system takes two steps.

What are design tokens?

These are the foundations of any design system. Tokens consist of values needed to construct and maintain a design system, such as spacing, color, typography, border radius, and breakpoints. Creating a design token for this design system takes two steps.

What are design tokens?

These are the foundations of any design system. Tokens consist of values needed to construct and maintain a design system, such as spacing, color, typography, border radius, and breakpoints. Creating a design token for this design system takes two steps.

The global token

The global token

Tokens replace static values, such as hex codes for color, with self-explanatory names. The global tokens have a code-like name, such as: Blue -100 and an associated value like : #A6DDF8.

Alias Tokens

Alias Tokens

Alias tokens are context-specific, instead of referring to colors by what they are, they reference another token. For example, surface-secondary refers to the global token slate-100 that has the value of  #F8FAFC, and its role or context is to be used on a container with the value of surface-primary.

#A6DDF8.

blue-100

surface.secondary

slate-100

#A6DDF8.

blue-100

surface.secondary

slate-100

#A6DDF8.

blue-100

surface.secondary

slate-100

Examples

Examples

Examples

Examples

Color ramp

Color ramp

Color ramp

Color docs

Color docs

Color docs

Typography docs

Typography docs

Typography docs

02

02

02

02

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Chapter
Chapter
Chapter

Components

Components

Components

Components

Time for some research

Investigation

Time for some research

Investigation

Time for some research

Investigation

Time for some research

Investigation

Famous design systems

Take a look at other well-known design systems, like material design or carbon design, to learn how they solve a common problem, how they structure the components, and what elements they have.

Famous design systems

Take a look at other well-known design systems, like material design or carbon design, to learn how they solve a common problem, how they structure the components, and what elements they have.

Famous design systems

Take a look at other well-known design systems, like material design or carbon design, to learn how they solve a common problem, how they structure the components, and what elements they have.

Famous design systems

Take a look at other well-known design systems, like material design or carbon design, to learn how they solve a common problem, how they structure the components, and what elements they have.

Design systems resources

There are a lot of resources such as articles, case studies, videos among others, that help give a guide or clearance on how to create a design system. It's very helpful to read and get as much information as possible.

Design systems resources

There are a lot of resources such as articles, case studies, videos among others, that help give a guide or clearance on how to create a design system. It's very helpful to read and get as much information as possible.

Design systems resources

There are a lot of resources such as articles, case studies, videos among others, that help give a guide or clearance on how to create a design system. It's very helpful to read and get as much information as possible.

Design systems resources

There are a lot of resources such as articles, case studies, videos among others, that help give a guide or clearance on how to create a design system. It's very helpful to read and get as much information as possible.

Now for the fun part

Creating the components

Now for the fun part

Creating the components

Now for the fun part

Creating the components

Now for the fun part

Creating the components

The requirements & sketching

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

The requirements & sketching

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

The requirements & sketching

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

The requirements & sketching

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

What it needs

Title

Description

Three action buttons (on / off visibility)

Slot (on / off visibility)

Image (on / off visibility)

Designing process

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

Designing process

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

Designing process

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

Designing process

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

Designing process

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

Designing process

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

Designing process

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

Designing process

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

(Smile UI components)
(Smile UI components)

Components set

Components set

Here we have the components section; every component created for the design system uses smile tokens at its core. The process for creating a component is as follows:

Here we have the components section; every component created for the design system uses smile tokens at its core. The process for creating a component is as follows:

Investigation

Take a look at other well known design systems, like material design or carbon design, to learn and see how they solve a common problem.

What it needs

Title

Description

Three action buttons (on / off visibility)

Slot (on / off visibility)

Image (on / off visibility)

The requirements
& sketching

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

Designing
process

This is the most fun part of the process. With all the information gathered and with help from the sketch, bring the idea to life (We use figma in alegra).

Each component has different properties like titles, descriptions, button quantity, slots, etc. They also need variants to ensure versatility and flexibility.

It’s important that the design and construction are scalable to ensure that it’s future-proof.

Testing & publishing

Design a prototype of a real world usage where the component would be used and measure if the solution is the best. It was shared to the team so they could test it out and then give feedback about the usability, versatility, flexibility, scalability and accessibility.

After that you can publish the component so everyone can make use of it.

Investigation

Take a look at other well known design systems, like material design or carbon design, to learn and see how they solve a common problem.

What it needs

Title

Description

Three action buttons (on / off visibility)

Slot (on / off visibility)

Image (on / off visibility)

The requirements & sketching

Create a list of requirements that the component needs to have in order to solve the problem it's intended to. Then make a quick sketch of how you visualize the structure of the component.

Designing

This is the most fun part of the process. With all the information gathered and with help from the sketch, bring the idea to life (We use figma in alegra).

Each component has different properties like titles, descriptions, button quantity, slots, etc. They also need variants to ensure versatility and flexibility.

It’s important that the design and construction are scalable to ensure that it’s future-proof.

Testing & publishing

Design a prototype of a real world usage where the component would be used and measure if the solution is the best. It was shared to the team so they could test it out and then give feedback about the usability, versatility, flexibility, scalability and accessibility.

After that you can publish the component so everyone can make use of it.

The documentations

The documentations

The documentations

The documentations

High-quality documentation is crucial to an effective Design system, Alegra wanted to create a detailed documentation that would be in two separate parts. One for the developers and one for the designers.

High-quality documentation is crucial to an effective Design system, Alegra wanted to create a detailed documentation that would be in two separate parts. One for the developers and one for the designers.

High-quality documentation is crucial to an effective Design system, Alegra wanted to create a detailed documentation that would be in two separate parts. One for the developers and one for the designers.

High-quality documentation is crucial to an effective Design system, Alegra wanted to create a detailed documentation that would be in two separate parts. One for the developers and one for the designers.

(Smile for devs)
(Smile for devs)
(Smile for devs)
(Smile for devs)

Developer documentation

Developer documentation

Developer documentation

Developer documentation

The information is organized and presented in different sections. Each section includes a table and a graphic. The tables contain attributes (like font size, height, or color) and corresponding values (tailwindcss tokens such as text-xs, h-4, or surface-secondary).

The graphics visually represent the elements from the tables, providing additional visual information.

The information is organized and presented in different sections. Each section includes a table and a graphic. The tables contain attributes (like font size, height, or color) and corresponding values (tailwindcss tokens such as text-xs, h-4, or surface-secondary).

The graphics visually represent the elements from the tables, providing additional visual information.

The information is organized and presented in different sections. Each section includes a table and a graphic. The tables contain attributes (like font size, height, or color) and corresponding values (tailwindcss tokens such as text-xs, h-4, or surface-secondary).

The graphics visually represent the elements from the tables, providing additional visual information.

The information is organized and presented in different sections. Each section includes a table and a graphic. The tables contain attributes (like font size, height, or color) and corresponding values (tailwindcss tokens such as text-xs, h-4, or surface-secondary).

The graphics visually represent the elements from the tables, providing additional visual information.

(Smile for designers)
(Smile for designers)
(Smile for designers)
(Smile for designers)

Designer documentation

Designer documentation

Designer documentation

Designer documentation

The idea of this documentation is to give the designers guidelines about how to implement the components in their designs, rather than knowing how they were built. This helps to maintain the look and feel of the product consist throughout the designs..

The idea of this documentation is to give the designers guidelines about how to implement the components in their designs, rather than knowing how they were built. This helps to maintain the look and feel of the product consist throughout the designs..

The idea of this documentation is to give the designers guidelines about how to implement the components in their designs, rather than knowing how they were built. This helps to maintain the look and feel of the product consist throughout the designs..

The idea of this documentation is to give the designers guidelines about how to implement the components in their designs, rather than knowing how they were built. This helps to maintain the look and feel of the product consist throughout the designs..

The payoff

The payoff

The payoff

The payoff

Increased efficiency through the designing and development of the website. It also helps create an organic look and feel between all the products of Alegra and less back and forth between designers and developers, and reduced friction.

Increased efficiency through the designing and development of the website. It also helps create an organic look and feel between all the products of Alegra and less back and forth between designers and developers, and reduced friction.

Increased efficiency through the designing and development of the website. It also helps create an organic look and feel between all the products of Alegra and less back and forth between designers and developers, and reduced friction.

Increased efficiency through the designing and development of the website. It also helps create an organic look and feel between all the products of Alegra and less back and forth between designers and developers, and reduced friction.

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George Gonzalez
Product Desinger

George Gonzalez
Product Desinger