Each major online resource tries to stand out with its unique aesthetic. The design must be consistent to give the user a feeling of comfort. The style guide is used for this: it represents a certain set of standards.
Now let us learn the secrets of style guide preparation from user interface design agencies.
Style Guide Guidelines
The design must be consistent across all products. Website or platform components must be easily recognizable from both a stationary computer and mobile devices. Experts recommend designing the interface first and then start developing a style guide. You need to determine what works in the product and what will have to be removed before standards can be set.
A style guide is a set of dynamic solutions, something will always change, so you should be prepared for the fact that the style guide will have to be changed iteratively. Before creating a guide, you need to clearly define what you intend to convey to the user, how their problems will be resolved, and find out what the “voice” of the product will be.
Main Topics Of The Style Guide
A good style guide should include at least six topics:
• Design principles
• Typography
• Images
• Grids and indents
• Colors
• Components
Design Principles
When creating an interface, a designer should rely on certain recommendations, called principles. For example, at Apple, one of the guiding principles is direct control. It is an element that is intuitively accessible to users, allowing you to see immediately the result of your actions. Principles help the designer determine what types of interactions to use for the product. For example, direct control involves a swiping and rotating-item interface. There shouldn't be too many principles. When you start developing a guide, it's best to make no more than three. As the product is being developed, this list may grow.
Typography
To achieve consistency across all products, you need standardized typography. A designer should tell right away what fonts and typefaces they should enjoy. Initially, it is better to use two fonts - one for headings, the other for text. It is advisable to indicate in which cases bold spelling should be used and when italics should be implemented. You can always change the fonts if you don't like the way they look. You can use FontPair or Typewolf to help with typography.
Images
Images are a powerful weapon to help you understand the meaning and idea of a product at an intuitive level. Therefore, the style guide should state which kind of photographs, drawings, and images should be applied. Depending on the focus of the resource, you can use illustrations or even stickers. The more clear and distinct recommendations from the designer regarding the images, the faster and more efficiently it will create the required interface.
Grids And Indents
The product should look harmonious, so the white space in the interface is given as much attention as it is filled. It is important to achieve to make grids and indents look the same in different use cases products. This helps to achieve the necessary consistency and recognition of the resource and creates a feeling of comfort for the visitor. You can create a table with fields of various sizes, as it is equally useful for both designers and developers.
Colors
The required interface element is color. The designer must know which to use. Correct shades help establish a hierarchy of components and create a positive resonance for the user when interacting with the product.
If there is a section on colors in the style guide, it is significant and will simplify the designer’s work, as they will not waste time looking for the right shades but simply refer to the list or table. Keep the color scheme simple, friendly, and recognizable. You don't need to use a lot of contrasting shades. It is advisable to limit yourself to a few, indicating where the main color is and where the auxiliary is.
Components
An interface is made up of individual elements called components. Such, for example, is a card. This approach is very developer-friendly and easy to use by designers. They can assemble a product from components like a Lego set. Of the same type of elements, you can create a variety of products and designs, easily achieving their standard, user-friendly form. Components can be fields, buttons, and forms, as in the Mapbox style guide.
Conclusion
When developing a style guide, you should use these six core themes as your framework. As you create your digital product, you can add or subtract something from the style guide.
