Building software is fun. Building open source software is even better. At Appwrite, open source is at the core of everything we do, and collaboration with our community is what drives us to create better products, but collaborating to build the same product can pose many challenges. To deliver features quickly, consistently, and maintain product identity, it is imperative that everyone working on the same product follow the same guidelines; this is why we’re excited to announce Pink Design.
Pink Design, or Pink, is Appwrite’s fully open source design system for building consistent and reusable user interfaces.
When we began redesigning our product almost a year ago, we discovered that the lack of a design system caused a lot of inconsistencies. It was difficult for a growing team to build a common identity without guidelines. Two months ago, we released Console 2.0 after several months of hard work. During the development of the new console, we also created our components library and documented every decision we made in order to prioritize our core product values better and be more welcoming for community contributions. This became Pink Design.
So why is Pink Design essential?
For Consistency
Consistent behavior is crucial while building a product. It reduces frustration and guides the user to learn the interface faster. This is why we designed Pink — the library contains foundations, layouts, elements, and components with thoroughly documented usage guidelines.
For Collaboration
Appwrite is open source with a growing developer community. With the help of our community members, we always strive to ship new features faster and more efficiently. Pink Design was created to facilitate contributions and collaboration internally and with our community. Pink allows all contributors to build features using a shared set of components, reducing friction.
For Accessibility
To make sure people with disabilities and different skill levels have equal opportunities, we designed every component in our library to comply with most accessibility standards — in both light and dark modes.
For Better Dev-Experience
Developer experience has always been a priority for Appwrite since the beginning, and simplifying software development is what guides us in everything we do. Therefore, Pink Design was created so you could easily integrate with your preferred framework or include the library in your CSS file.
What’s Next?
Pink Design is finally out today. As a company developing an open source product, this is a big step for Appwrite’s community of contributors. As always, we will keep improving Pink Design, allowing it to grow alongside Appwrite.
Thank you for being a part of our journey! If you haven’t already, browse the 💻 Pink Design GitHub Repository or check out our 🚀 Getting Started Guide to use Pink Design in your projects or when contributing to Appwrite.
Until next time!
