Modern front-end development is a cornucopia of options and architectural strategies. A development team must survey the landscape and assemble a bespoke toolchain from the countless libraries, frameworks, plugins and design tools that are at their disposal. As the system expands, and scalability becomes an issue, the team might consider implementing a design system on the front end.
In her new talk, Jen Udan lays out a path forward for building an Atomic design system from the ground up with React, Typescript and Storybook. Jen explains how to architect a component library using a monorepo strategy and dependency issues that can arise and be mitigated.
Using a recent client project as a case study, Jen explores the scalability issues that led to architecting a design system monorepo, the tradeoffs when exporting multiple packages from a monorepo versus exporting a single package, and considerations for organizations scoping out and planning for design system implementation.
About Jen Udan
Jen Udan is a fullstack senior software crafter at 8th Light who has been developing mostly on the front end for the past five years. Prior to her career as a developer, she worked in marketing, advertising, copywriting and editing. Jen is passionate about feminism, social justice and building solidarity among groups in tech. In her free time, she volunteers for a nonprofit called Texas Justice Initiative, which collects visualizes data around police shootings and deaths in the state of Texas.
About 8th Light University
8th Light University (8LU) is a semi-regular virtual event that is managed by 8th Light Inc, a global software consultancy. Topics focus on improving the craft of software development. Developers of all skill levels are welcome! Watch past event videos on YouTube or join the 8LU group to find out about upcoming events.
Join the Dialogue
If you're ready to get started on a new strategy for your front end, you can reference these resources shared during the talk: