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Design Systems Repo VS Pattern Lab

Compare Design Systems Repo VS Pattern Lab and see what are their differences

Design Systems Repo logo Design Systems Repo

A collection of design system examples and resources

Pattern Lab logo Pattern Lab

Create atomic design systems with Pattern Lab.
  • Design Systems Repo Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-01-21
  • Pattern Lab Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-20

Design Systems Repo features and specs

  • Comprehensive Collection
    Design Systems Repo offers an extensive collection of design systems and related resources from various organizations and companies, making it a valuable repository for designers and developers seeking inspiration or references.
  • Categorization
    Resources are categorized effectively, allowing users to navigate through different topics such as style guides, pattern libraries, and design tokens with ease.
  • Community Contributions
    The platform is open to contributions from the community, which means it is frequently updated with new and diverse design systems from around the world.
  • Educational Value
    Design Systems Repo serves as an educational tool by offering insights into how established companies structure their design systems, which can be beneficial for teams creating their own.
  • Free Access
    The platform is free to use, providing a cost-effective resource for teams and individuals looking to explore design systems without a financial barrier.

Possible disadvantages of Design Systems Repo

  • Quality Variation
    Since the content is user-contributed, the quality and thoroughness of design systems can vary significantly, leading to a mix of highly detailed and somewhat superficial resources.
  • Lack of Customization
    While comprehensive, the platform does not offer tools for customization or direct integration into a user’s workflow, limiting its utility beyond merely serving as a reference.
  • Outdated Resources
    There is no guarantee that all design system resources are up-to-date, which could mislead users if they rely on outdated practices or discontinued guidelines.
  • Search Functionality
    The search functionality might not be as robust as desired, potentially making it challenging to locate specific design systems or topics without thorough browsing.
  • Limited Interaction
    The platform focuses on curation rather than interaction, providing limited opportunities for users to discuss, critique, or ask questions about the design systems showcased.

Pattern Lab features and specs

  • Component-Driven Development
    Pattern Lab encourages a modular approach by allowing developers to create reusable components, which promotes consistency and efficiency in developing user interfaces.
  • Atomic Design
    It is built on the Atomic Design methodology, which helps in designing systems by breaking down interfaces into basic building blocks, leading to more manageable and scalable design systems.
  • Live Style Guide
    Pattern Lab generates a live style guide that updates in real time as components are developed, making it easy for designers and developers to stay in sync with the design system.
  • Platform Agnostic
    Pattern Lab can be integrated with various development stacks and workflows, making it flexible and adaptable to a wide range of projects.
  • Enhanced Collaboration
    By facilitating a shared language and set of tools between designers and developers, Pattern Lab improves collaboration and reduces communication barriers.

Possible disadvantages of Pattern Lab

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For teams that are new to the Atomic Design methodology or to Pattern Lab itself, there can be a significant learning curve required to get up to speed.
  • Initial Setup Complexity
    Setting up a project can be complex, especially for beginners, as it requires understanding both the tool and the underlying design principles thoroughly.
  • Limited Customization
    Although flexible, Pattern Lab does have limitations in terms of customizations, which may not be suitable for very specific or unique project requirements.
  • Performance Overheads
    As projects grow in size and complexity, managing and compiling a large number of components can lead to performance overheads, affecting build times.
  • Maintenance Burden
    Keeping the Pattern Lab and its components in sync with the ongoing changes in projects can become a maintenance burden over time, requiring dedicated resources.

Analysis of Design Systems Repo

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Design Systems Repo is a highly regarded repository that is considered beneficial for individuals and teams involved in web and product design. It acts as a centralized hub for learning and inspiration, widely appreciated for its organized and curated content.

Why this product is good

  • Design Systems Repo offers a comprehensive collection of resources and tools that aid in the development and implementation of design systems. It provides links to various design system examples, articles, and tools, making it a valuable starting point for designers and developers who are looking to create or enhance their own design systems.

Recommended for

  • UI/UX designers
  • Front-end developers
  • Product managers
  • Design system enthusiasts
  • Teams building a unified design language

Design Systems Repo videos

No Design Systems Repo videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Pattern Lab videos

Introduction to Pattern Lab

More videos:

  • Review - Using Pattern Lab to Design More Efficiently

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Design Systems Repo and Pattern Lab)
Design Tools
87 87%
13% 13
Prototyping
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
67 67%
33% 33
Website Design
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Pattern Lab might be a bit more popular than Design Systems Repo. We know about 6 links to it since March 2021 and only 6 links to Design Systems Repo. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Design Systems Repo mentions (6)

  • How do you keep yourself updated with the latest design trends?
    There is still some value in understanding aesthetic trends, it’s good to make sure your components and interactions are consistent with patterns people may be already familiar with. I like to nerd out on Design Systems Repo to view open source design system documentation. You can see how companies style their components, as well as how they work “under the hood” so to speak. I then like to compare it to their... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Making a Design Systems collection, any more out there you know?
    This is the site I use to browse design systems: Https://designsystemsrepo.com/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Design Systems online?
    Yup this. Also https://designsystemsrepo.com is worth a flick through as they have some interesting alternate takes. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Good resources for programmers to learn about UX/design?
    Design Systems Repo - A frequently updated collection of Design System examples, articles, tools and talks https://designsystemsrepo.com/ Awesome Design Systems https://github.com/alexpate/awesome-design-systems. - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
  • Design system template or example
    So just to add to this source, you can also look around on https://designsystemsrepo.com They have a large collection of actual used design systems from companies around the world. Often times, their design systems are open to anyone. I’m not sure about the component library, but you can always check and see if they have a link. Source: over 3 years ago
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Pattern Lab mentions (6)

  • Unlocking the frontend – a call for standardizing component APIs pt.2
    While this helped ease integration work, in parallel to that we also started exploring more systematic approaches on the frontend side itself. With the advent of Brad Frost Atomic Design, and tools like Pattern Lab, we started using a more component-centric approach. This included colocating all styling (CSS), behavior (JavaScript) and semantic structure (HTML) for a component, and way better encapsulation as a... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Atomic Design: A Methodology for Building Design Systems
    In order to apply this methodology in your work, you can use a tool called Pattern Lab, created by Brad Frost and Dave Olsen. Pattern Lab is a tool to create atomic design systems. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Integrating Accessibility In The Web Development Process
    Something that would really help to work with tested components and stay consistent with the code and guarantee code quality would be a component library created with Storybook or Pattern Lab, for example. Developers who have a high level of knowledge of how to write accessible code can create components and test them before implementing them. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • How do you make the styling of the site flexible to fast change, but not tedious to actually go in and change every single detail?
    You can read more about Atomic Design Systems and how it scales. I've used Patternlab and I find it awesome. Source: over 3 years ago
  • fractal.build as an atomic design tool
    Fractal seemed easier, at least to me, to understand and maintain, than PatternLab, which I failed to install due a bug in the current installer (and when I managed to install the grunt version, I was already told that there is fractal as a possible alternative). - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Design Systems Repo and Pattern Lab, you can also consider the following products

Eva Design System - A free customizable design system

Storybook - Storybook is an open source tool for developing UI components in isolation for React, Vue, and Angular. It makes building stunning UIs organized and efficient.

Ant Design System for Figma - A large library of 2100+ handcrafted UI components

Swanky Docs - A simple, flexible and powerful ecosystem for creating beautiful documentation.

Invision - Prototyping and collaboration for design teams

vov.css - A small class-based animation library consisting of small but useful animations.