What is a UI Kit (and why should you use it)?

Are you using UI tools for your web design yet? If not, you might be ready to jump.

UI kits make your life much easier. They can streamline your design process, help you save time and money, as well as make your designs look and function better. You think that sounds great?

This article will provide a quick overview of what a UIkit looks like, and the reasons why you should use one in your next project.

What is a UI Kit (UI Kit)?

A user interface, or UI, kit is a group of files (usually Photoshop) and resources which can be used to assist designers with creating UIs.

UI kits include the components that provide functionality and meaning to users. You may find some kits that provide a framework which can be used to build your website or mobile app. The larger the package, the greater the range of UI elements available.

Essentially, UIkits contain all of the components necessary to create a user interface.

If you are uncomfortable with the idea that you will be using a set of UI components, don’t worry. A UI kit does not guarantee you will have unique designs. UI kits usually come with a range of colours, swatches and patterns. You can customise these elements and integrate them in your original design.

1) UI kits save you tons

A UI kit has the greatest advantage of saving you time by making it easier to find a solution to a design challenge.

Let’s imagine you just landed an exciting new design project. You’re enthusiastic about your ideas, so you set about searching the internet for the perfect UI elements. Before you know what, you have spent hours searching the Internet for the best interface elements or creating them by yourself. But you haven’t even begun to create your vision into something tangible that you can share it with your client. Design is a business, and we are always eager to share our clients’ truly innovative ideas.

UI Kits can bridge the gap between the desire to create unique designs while still being cost-effective and profitable. A UIkit will help to avoid the tedious task of creating a unique design. A UIkit provides a wide range of elements that you can use immediately, instead of you having to search or build the necessary elements each time you start a project. Once you find the UI kits you like, it’s easy to stick with them and make changes throughout your projects.

2) UI kit can increase your profit

Time is money in the design industry. It is money lost if you spend two hours searching or designing basic user interface elements for every project.

Using a high quality UI kit will save you time and increase your productivity.

A great way to be different from your competitors is to get your projects done in a shorter amount of time. Quickly completing quality work for clients will make you more likely to be hired.

3) Focus on the essential parts of your job with UI kits

Designers often want to do it all themselves. Afterall, this field places a premium upon creativity, innovation, and vision. Sometimes this self-reliance can cause you to neglect the most important parts.

Using a UI toolkit to assist you with smaller parts of your design is a great way to save time and create energy for higher impact tasks. Let’s just be clear: nobody cares if a single button is a masterpiece of design. It is the overall, larger vision that makes a designer’s work unique. Using a UIkit will give you more time for designing the things that are important to you.

4) UIkits make it easier for you to alter your designs

Another benefit of UIkits is that it makes design modifications much simpler. Let’s say that a client calls to ask you to change the fiery orange theme they used to start with to a cooler blue.

This could turn out to be a nightmare without a user interface kit. Using a UI-kit allows you to make changes quickly and only change a few layer, rather than having the whole site code changed.

Ok, now I’m sure – what do you need to do?

There are a slew UI kit options available, from free bare-bones plans to expensive premiums with all the bells & sounds. All of them will make your life as an artist much easier. However, there are many others. So where do you start?

Although finding the perfect UI kit can take time, they are easily found online. Our weekly design resource Round-ups include a variety of quality UI kit options. These are a good starting point.