PLEASE NOTE: These slides are out of date. You'll find a new and better presentation here: http://de.slideshare.net/WolfBruening/how-to-build-the-perfect-pattern-libraryy I wrote some articles on this topic (in German): http://www.produktbezogen.de/bauanleitung-pattern-library-1 Eine Deutsche Version mit einigen neuen Ergänzungen gibt es hier: http://de.slideshare.net/WolfBruening/pattern-libraries-aufzucht-und-pflege

1. Creating a large scale
interaction pattern library
...and why you should use one too!
(even for smaller projects)
There are new slides for this presentation. Please
go to slideshare or click the link on slide 4.

2. About me
@wolfbruening
Born and grown
up in Oldenburg
University education in
Magdeburg and Ann Arbor
Worked as Art Director at
webvariants and as UI
designer at UCDplus
Currently senior IxD at
OTTO‘s eCommerce
division
Wolf Brüning

3. The task
• Develop a pattern library for an insanely large
ecommerce website with more than a billion euros of
revenue per year and millions of products ranging from
swimwear to chainsaws

4. But why?
Duplicate designing,
communication and
development create
misunderstandings,
redundancies and
inconsistencies
Outdated Version. Click here for the new slides!

5. The consequences
7 solutions/styles for the same task on OTTO.de at the same time!!
(we fixed this already)
Outdated Version. Click here for the new slides!

6. Working without patters
• Almost certainly will create inconsistent interfaces!
• Leads to misunderstandings!
• Leads to lots of extra work, communication and QA
Outdated Version. Click here for the new slides!

7. So what are patterns?

8. So what are patterns?
• A pattern is a single piece of your UI that solves a specific
design problem and repeats across your website in
various contexts.
Fig. 1: The button, a classic example for a pattern

9. Jared Spool!
Founding Principal of UIE
“A typical pattern describes the
problem, the chosen solution, the
rationale behind that solution,
related patterns that the designer
should be aware of and the results
of usability testing.”

10. What are patterns?
• Atomic patterns („bricks“): i.e. Buttons, Headline, Copy!
• Patterns of patterns („components“): i.e.Product Cinema

11. What are patterns?
• Templates and Sub-Templates!
• Transitions!
• Flows!
• Wording!
• ...

12. Learning #1
Keep it simple
(really, really simple)

13. Yahoo Pattern Library

14. Yahoo Pattern Library
WTF?

15. A too complicated process
Image created by Matt Leacock

16. Keep it simple
• Don‘t strive for perfection!!
• Try to keep pattern definitions as scarce as possible!
• Try to keep processes and discussions lean!
!
• Keep work overhead for adding and managing patterns
as low as possible

17. Keep it simple
• If using your pattern library is easy and saves a lot more
time than it costs to fill and manage it, everybody will be
motivated.!
• A not-so-perfect pattern library is a lot better than a
perfectly documented but outdated one!
!
✓ This is the most important factor for a successful
implementation

18. Learning #2
Use flexible &
semantic names

19. Semantic Naming
Shiny Blue Button XL!
???
Shiny Blue Button XL
Relaunch/
Redesign

20. Semantic Naming
• Use abstract pattern names that relate to function not
style:!
!
• „Primary Button“!
• „Secondary Button“!
• „Headline“!
• „Copy“!
• „Link“

21. What about sizes?
Button S
Button M
Button L
Insert a new button here? Nooooooooooo!

22. Image created by Margaret Almon http://www.flickr.com/photos/nutmegdesigns

23. US house numbers
House numbers increase by 100 every block regardless of the number of
buildings. This is great for orientation but also very flexible for adding new
houses between existing ones.

24. City block sizes
Button 50
Button 100
Button 200
Button 150

25. City block sizes
• The standard variant of the pattern gets the „100“!
• Smaller variants get „75“, „50“, „25“...!
• Larger variants get „200“, „300“...!
!
✓ Now you have a flexible naming system where it‘s easy to
identify if a pattern is standard or larger or smaller

26. Learning #3
Modular solutions
are better than one size
fits all
(for large projects/teams)

27. Big company problems
• Lots of people involved!
• Interaction Designers!
• Visual Designers!
• User Experience Managers!
• Developers!
• Product Managers!
• Project Managers!
• Corporate Designer!
• External Agencies!
!
• Impossible to find a one size fits all solution

28. Keep it modular
• We identified three main use cases!
• Prototyping & visual design!
• Development!
• Document and communicate!
!
• Instead of a large pattern library for all use cases we
created a connected modular solution consisting of three
components

29. Prototyping & Visual Design
PSD-files with every pattern in it allow for drag-and-drop creation of prototypes

30. Bonus Learning
Involve your developers
(and other stakeholders)

31. Development
Interactive pattern list based on Twitter Bootstrap

32. Document and Communicate
An own chapter in our corporate design manual platform

33. Structure
The pattern name is the connection between the three modules

34. Bill Scott!
Sr. Director UI at Paypal
“Design patterns create a shared
understanding in the organization,
where designers, business people,
engineers, etc. really understand each
other and get a sense for what‘s hard,
what‘s easy, get a sense for the time
crunch.”

35. Learning #4
Keep it stable but allow for
changes

36. Keep it stable...
• Put up a set of rules that prevent patterns from being too
easily changed!
• Only add patterns if existing patterns provide not a satisfactory
solution!
• Change pattern if a new pattern becomes standard in the market!
• Chance pattern if a new pattern beats it in user or a/b-testing

37. ...but allow for change
• Continuously experiment with new patterns!
• Challenge existing patterns!
!
• Don‘t be a pattern nazi ;o)

38. Lucas Pettinati!
UX Lead at Google, former Prinicpal Designer at Yahoo
“The use of a pattern library helps designers
quickly craft parts of a design so the bulk of
their time is spent designing what‘s unique
rather than what‘s common.
It‘s like a compass. It‘ll tell you what
direction you should go in, but it‘s up to you
to figure out how to get there.”

39. Learning #5
A good pattern library
creates efficient processes

40. Change the way you work
In a traditional process, the IxD creates a concept and prototypes hands them
over to the visual designer who does the final design and briefs the developer

41. Change the way you work
With patterns the IxD is able to hand over the prototype directly to the developer
who – after the coding is done – teams up with the visual designer to fine tune
the design directly on the website. There is no need to paint a picture of your
website in photoshop anymore.

42. This sounds really cool, but...
...don‘t patterns limit my creativity?

43. Wrong!

44. Patterns support your creativity
• You don‘t need to redo or reinvent already solved
problems (and it‘s a strange sort of creativity to create a
new button every second page)!
• You can easily build and test prototypes on existing
patterns, so you are able to explore more solutions!
!
✓ Using patterns buy you time to solve new problems, to
tackle more complex tasks and maybe to add that special
finish to your site

45. And what about my site /
project / agency?

46. What about my site?
• One pager → well, you have it!
• Small site, startup → collect your patterns in a PSD (or
else), add documentation when your team grows!
• Agency → document abstract patterns that repeat with
most customers (contact forms, pagination, etc.)!
!
• All: involve your developers

47. Why you should use patterns
• They improve the quality of your UX!
• Consistent & predictable UI!
• Efficient prototyping!
• Time to concentrate on new problems!
• They improve the quality of your code!
• Quick implementation!
• Prevent redundancies!
• Efficient testing!
• They can save everybody a lot of time!
• They help you to communicate cleary with all
stakeholders

48. Thank you!
tl;dr Pattern libraries are awesome!
@wolfbruening

49. If you always wanted to...
• do design, testing or research for a billion-euro-revenue-
ecommerce site!
• work in a highly professional (and fun) team of 15 user
experience, interaction design and visual design experts!
• make use of our own testing-lab!
• live and work in Germany‘s most beautiful city ;o)!
• and make millions of users happy!
!
is searching for IxD and UX folks. Talk to us!

50. Some useful links
Resources & Tools!
• http://boxesandarrows.com/so-you-wanna-build-a-library-eh/!
• http://fadeyev.net/2012/03/31/the-value-of-unoriginality/!
• http://twitter.github.io/bootstrap/!
• http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/15/40-helpful-resources-on-
user-interface-design-patterns/!
!
Examples of pattern libraries!
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/gel!
• http://harmattan-dev.nokia.com/docs/ux/pages/getting_started.html!
• http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/index.html