Hacknite design system
HACKNITE
Delivering a scalable UX: How a design system accelerated a CTF platform from zero to launch
Timeline
March 2024 - May 2024
Role
UX/UI Designer
Team
1x UX/UI Designer
1x Full-stack developer
Project context
A CTF (Capture The Flag) hosting platform designed with both hosts and participants in mind. As an individual contributor for a new start-up, my goal was to build a robust, scalable product from the ground up, with a focus on quick launch and unified user experience.
Impact
Accelerated the product launch
Improved collaboration and efficiency
Ensured cohesive and consistent UX
Created a foundation for future growth
Links
THE PROBLEM
Building a foundation from nothing
When I joined the Hacknite team, the product was a blank slate, a project with no existing product, no design system, and a single developer. Our business goals were clear: to achieve a quick launch, ensure easy future development, and provide a unified, intuitive user experience.
My challenge was to establish a design foundation that could be built upon efficiently without overloading a small team or a tight budget. The lack of a design system risked long development times and visual inconsistency as the product grew.
01
No foundation
I was starting from zero with a limited budget and only one developer.
02
Balancing speed & scalability
We needed to launch quickly but also ensure the product could scale without becoming messy.
03
Defining the core
I had to determine which components were essential for the initial launch and which could be added later.
Simple style guide for light and dark mode
THE SOLUTION
A strategic and scalable system
My approach was systematic and collaborative. I started with a simple style guide and built components incrementally, ensuring every piece was documented and ready for development. This allowed us to build a strong foundation without overloading our small team.
My process focused on direct collaboration and clear documentation.
01
Strategic selection
I worked closely with the developer to analyze the chosen framework, Nuxt UI, and decided which components were essential for the initial build. This ensured every hour of design and development was purposeful.
02
Phased implementation
I began with the basics: color palettes, typography, buttons, inputs, alerts, and toasts. As the project progressed, I designed more complicated modules as they were needed, always ensuring they fit within the system.
03
Seamless collaboration
To ensure a smooth handoff, I created clear descriptions for every component, marked all states (e.g., hover, active, disabled), linked to the necessary Nuxt UI documentation, and held a short workshop to walk the developer through the Figma file and its structure.
THE OUTCOME
Fast, consistent, and collaborative
By taking a slow and methodical approach at the beginning, we were able to accelerate our work on every subsequent implementation. The design system became our single source of truth, leading to:
01
Smooth collaboration
My detailed documentation and clear file structure eliminated guesswork, leading to a frictionless working relationship with the developer.
02
Quick iterations
Once the system was in place, we could design and implement new features and user flows (like registration and creating CTF challenges) much faster and more consistently.
03
Unified UX
The product had a cohesive look and feel from the first line of code to the final launch, providing a professional and intuitive experience for both participants and admins.
Product impact
By creating a unified design system, I ensured a cohesive user experience from the first line of code. The final product had a professional, intuitive, and consistent look and feel across all screens. This foundation not only provided a polished experience at launch but also ensured future features would be seamlessly integrated, leading to a scalable and visually predictable product.
Process impact
The design system directly impacted our workflow by creating a single source of truth for all design decisions. My structured approach enabled much quicker design and development iterations for subsequent features. With clear documentation and pre-built components, we significantly reduced the time spent on new implementations, which was crucial for a lean team focused on a fast-paced launch.
People impact
My systematic approach directly improved collaboration with our developer. By meticulously organizing components and providing clear documentation, I eliminated guesswork in the handoff process. The design system acted as a shared language, enabling us to work faster and more efficiently together and freeing up the developer to focus on the technical implementation rather than design inconsistencies.