How I help / Design it
Design systems. Build it once, use it everywhere.
A design system is a shared kit of parts for your digital products: colours, type, buttons, forms and the rules for using them. I design and build them, so your team can create new screens faster and everything looks like it belongs together.
Design and code from the same person · Remote worldwide
Design systems, at a glance.
What it is
A library of reusable parts, such as buttons, forms and cards, with clear rules for colour, type, spacing and tone.
Why it helps
Designers and developers stop reinventing the same button. New screens come together faster and look consistent.
Accessibility built in
Contrast, focus states and keyboard behaviour are solved once in the components, then inherited everywhere they are used.
Right-sized
A small, well-documented kit beats a huge one nobody maintains. It grows with your products.
When you need one.
A single small website rarely needs a design system. You start to need one when several people build several screens, and the same decisions keep being made differently.
Several products, one brand
A website, an app and an internal tool that should feel like the same organisation.
A growing team
New designers and developers need a shared starting point, not a folder of old mock-ups.
Five versions of every button
Each one with its own quirks. Consolidating them saves effort and fixes problems once, for everyone.
How I build one.
Audit what exists
Collect the colours, components and patterns already in use. Most design systems start by tidying up.
Agree the foundations
Colour, type, spacing, icons and tone of voice, checked for contrast and readability.
Build the components
Design and code the parts people use most, with their states, rules and examples.
Document and look after it
Simple guidance on when to use what, and an agreed way to add or change components.
Designer and developer in one.
I do UI, UX and graphic design, including freelance work on 99designs, and I build software myself as external / fractional CTO at Kona Libre. A design system needs both views: what looks right, and what developers can actually reuse.
A sensible first step.
A good first step is an audit of one product, ending with the foundations and the first handful of components. It is quoted to scope using the defined implementation day rate as the planning basis.
For a design system shared by several teams or suppliers, we agree ownership and decision rights first. Current prices are under Engagements & pricing.
Focused discovery and defined buildsA useful next step
How many versions of your button are there?
Tell me about your products and the people who design and build them. The first 30-minute conversation is free.
You’ll speak directly with me about the problem, the fit and a sensible next step.
Opens your email app with a few prompts.
hello@richardzoltantoth.com
Online meetings worldwide.
No VAT added — I’m not VAT registered.
View the full engagement terms.