Rebuilding an aircraft on the fly

At trivago we started with an iterative rebuild of our user interface in the beginning of 2015. Next to establishing a pattern library and thereby introducing a Design System we started to rethink the way we build our user interfaces in code and design. We adapted several methodologies like Atomic Design, changed our design development workflows, did a CSS refactoring – called Project Ironman – , improved our front-end stack and changed the way we build our assets and started to rebuild the core UI components of our main product in 2016.

The talk will provide insights in our journey with rebuilding our UI at large scale in an iterative way. It will present the challenges we encountered in code, design and our processes and how we solved them. The outcome will be highlighted with real data and some of our business metrics. However it will also show some of our mistakes we did while integrating the Design System and will present the lessons we have learned out of that.

Transcript

1. Rebuilding an aircraft on the fly
 Christoph Reinartz - @pistenprinz
2. Title
 subtitle
3. Design Systems
 An Overview
4. Components Process UI Layer Styleguide Design 
 Language Documentation Assets UI Kit Design 
 Principles Inspired by: https://medium.com/@NateBaldwin/anatomy-of-a-design-system-7a6b0677bf5
5. Definition
 CSS Framework This is the front-end code and production-ready design assets. The CSS framework is referenced and consumed by the product(s). It is a modular, scalable, and extensible tool that fosters rapid development and typically confirms to a CI/ CD development environment. https://medium.com/@NateBaldwin/clarifying-our-style-guide-nomenclature-ab72358ee111#.nduusckg1
6. Title
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7. This is the documentation resource for the design system. Since the design system is purely code and assets, the style guide is a site to demonstrate the UI patterns with references to aid in implementation and usage. Definition
 Styleguide https://medium.com/@NateBaldwin/clarifying-our-style-guide-nomenclature-ab72358ee111#.nduusckg1
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9. Definition
 Pattern Library This is a library of standardized UI patterns. They are the final designs, and can be delivered in the form of a repository of design files, or a symbol library/UI kit. It is the resource for designers to build from. https://medium.com/@NateBaldwin/clarifying-our-style-guide-nomenclature-ab72358ee111#.nduusckg1
10. Definition
 Design System The entirety of the standardized UI patterns, framework, assets, and documentation, as well as the processes and people involved. It is the ecosystem that drives and supports the unified evolution of the product(s). https://medium.com/@NateBaldwin/clarifying-our-style-guide-nomenclature-ab72358ee111#.nduusckg1
11. Design Systems
 Examples
16. Design System Why do we need it?
17. #1 Establish design and code consistency Remove clutter in code code and design
18. #2 Improve code quality and maintainability Reduce technical debt
19. #3 Provide base for modern & sustainable UI rebuild Build modern applications fast
20. Specificity graph 2012
 The specificity wall
22. peaks at the beginning of the stylesheet Graph 2015 
 Way better, but still…
23. HTML5
24. #1 Sprites were out of control We built Frankenstein with Icons
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26. #2 Too much CSS How many Selectors do you use? ALL!
27. #3 Desktop first approach Oh you poor mobile devices
28. #4 Inconsistency and missing Styleguide Or how to create fifty shades of grey
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33. #5 Repeat yourself 97 different footers - no single source of truth
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38. #6 Overly complex CSS/DOM structure div, div, div, span, span, span
39. #7 Too much confusion in code Scary comments
40. Title
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41. #8 JPG to Jira Task driven development Developing on the live system
43. Components Process UI Layer Styleguide Design 
 Language Documentation Assets UI Kit Design 
 Principles
44. Title
 subtitle Project Ironman Large scale CSS refactoring Christoph Reinartz - ScotlandCSS - Edinburgh, June 1st 2016
45. New CSS Core Old CSS Core normalize.css reset.css border-box content-box mobile first (min-width) desktop first (max-width) media queries inline in separate files embed SVG icon image sprites ITCSS layering [something] BEM, OOCSS [something] Post processing (MQPacker etc.) nothing (Assetic)
46. peaks at the beginning of the stylesheet Graph before Ironman
 Way better, but still…
47. New CSS base refactored CSS Graph after Ironman
 Improved curve…
48. Components Process CSS 
 Framework Styleguide Design 
 Language Documentation Assets UI Kit Design 
 Principles
49. Processes & Integration Methodologies and people
50. Digital Design UI Engineering
51. Design Development HTML CSS JavaScript
52. Design Development Accessibility Animations Integration Semantic Usability Performance JS Framework X
53. Design Development Accessibility Animations Integration Semantic Usability Performance JS Framework X
54. Design Development Accessibility Animations Integration Semantic Usability Performance JS Framework X
55. Design Development Accessibility Animations Integration Semantic Usability Performance JS Framework X
57. 
 “We built a Design System based on our needs. You should totally use it”
59. 
 “We built a Design System for you w/o knowing your needs. You should totally use it”
61. 
 “We built a Design System together. Everybody can use it”
62. # Atomic Design An approach for modular interfaces
63. http://bradfrost.com/blog/post/atomic-design-in-one-gif/
64. Components Process UI Layer Styleguide Design 
 Language Documentation Assets UI Kit Design 
 Principles
65. From refactoring to rebuilding
 A new Search Result component
66. Refactoring first
 Disposable refactoring of old code
67. Step 1 New codebase integrated Old layout kept because don’t release what you haven’t tested
68. Step 2 Iterate new versions of UI components A new Search Result component based on the new base
69. Rebuilding later
 Relaunch a few weeks after the refactoring
70. Release and test
 And qualify it
71. Step 3 Go to step 2 Rebuild more Components
72. Rebuild more components
 Relaunch a few weeks after the refactoring
74. Components Process UI Layer Styleguide Design 
 Language Documentation Assets UI Kit Design 
 Principles
75. <3 New Icon System From sprites to Inline-SVG
76. Title
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79. Title
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80. description details infobig hotelconnect smiley heart towel star pictures wifi spa beach breakfast pool pet golf tv family eco parking bed_single bed_double bed_small couple universal home menu share edit checkout checkin general rates faq_circle faq info_circle info arrow_right_circle arrow_left_circle arrow_down_circle arrow_up_circle arrow_right arrow_left arrow_down arrow_up tick exclamation x plus minus image media bag chair team candy journalist news hoteltest plus_circle minus_circle x_circle filter dashboard statistics hotel2 hotel travel2 travel booking hotelchain upload delete tick_circle exclamation_circle contact profile info product history giveback lock calendar search publisher career comment download map smiley_belowaverage smiley_satisfactory smiley_good smiley_verygood smiley_excellent smiley_belowaverage smiley_satisfactory smiley_good smiley_verygood smiley_excellent level sort department poi_citycentre poi_airport poi_sight poi_conference poi_harbor poi_mainstation poi_nature poi_nightlife poi_sports filterreset join thin share2 movie call piechart diagram music multimedia wifi spa beach breakfast pool pet golf tv family eco parking bed_single bed_double bed_small couple universal home menu share edit checkout checkin general rates description details infobig hotelconnect smiley heart towel star pictures icn_profile icn_info icn_product icn_history icn_giveback icn_lock icn_calendar icn_search icn_publisher icn_career icn_comment icn_download icn_map icn_dashboard icn_statistics icn_hotel2 icn_hotel icn_travel2 icn_travel icn_booking icn_hotelchain icn_upload icn_delete icn_tick_circle exclamation_circle contact image media bag chair team candy journalist news hoteltest plus_circle minus_circle x_circle icn_filter arrow_right_circle arrow_left_circle arrow_down_circle arrow_up_circle arrow_right arrow_left arrow_down arrow_up tick exclamation x plus minus faq_circle faq info_circle info smiley_belowaverage smiley_satisfactory smiley_good smiley_verygood smiley_excellent smiley_belowaverage smiley_satisfactory smiley_good smiley_verygood smiley_excellent level sort department poi_citycentre poi_airport poi_sight poi_conference poi_harbor poi_mainstation poi_nature poi_nightlife poi_sports join thin filterreset share2 movie call piechart diagram music multimedia
81. Components Process UI Layer Styleguide Design 
 Language Documentation Assets UI Kit Design 
 Principles
82. <3 Sorted the colors Established and introduce a color palette
83. trv-blue-light #3f9fc1 trv-red-light #d67763 trv-green-light #8cba3f trv-green-lighter #b2d17f trv-green-dark #4c7b00 trv-juri-light #697379 trv-juri-lighter #9ba2a6 trv-juri-lightest #ebeced trv-blue-dark #005f81 trv-blue #007fad trv-orange #f48f00 trv-red #c94a30 trv-orange-dark #b76b00 trv-orange-light #f6ab3f trv-blue-lightest #e5f2f6 trv-red-lightest #f9ecea trv-orange-lightest #fdf3e5 trv-red-dark #963724 trv-green #66a400 trv-juri #37454d trv-juri-dark #293339 16 12 18 16 12 12 18 12 18 16 * trv-juri-very-light #cdd0d2 trv-red-very-light #f1d1cb trv-green-very-light #d8e8bf trv-orange-very-light #fce3bf trv-blue-very-light #bfdfea trv-red-lighter #e4a49b trv-orange-lighter #f9c780 trv-blue-lighter #7fbfd6 trv-green-lightest #eff5e5
84. Title
 subtitle Now 2015
85. <3 Code Styleguide And Documentation
91. Components Process UI Layer Styleguide Design 
 Language Documentation Assets UI Kit Design 
 Principles
92. Lessons learned What went wrong? And why?
93. </3 Let’s remove this CSS class Famous last words
94. pull-left vs. fl-leading
 nobody uses this old thing, or? deprecated class non - deprecated class 97% 3%
95. </3 Is the scope too big? There is no approach to rule them all
96. The roll-out Vision handling
 The verbose version
97. The roll-out Vision
 Filtered by Designers
98. 21 admin-library patternlab-loader admin-lib trivago-core_patterns daisy-and-trivi fork visualisation admin-tools application composer package composer package composer package symfony application scss _patterns _patterns
99. 100% Pattern lab loader reusable shared templates 100%
100. CSS Components to be open sourced soon 80%
101. </3 Dependencies From monolith to packages to mono-repo
102. daisy-and-trivi applications
103. daisy-and-trivi applications trivago core patterns
104. daisy-and-trivi applications trivago core patterns
110. daisy-and-trivi applications trivago core patterns
111. Design System Metrics
 Some data
112. 
 “We saved two weeks when using the System” * *) Communication Team
113. 
 16 contributors
114. 
 12 teams using it
115. 
 15 applications using it
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117. 
 5 external companies using it
118. 
 ~50% reduced bug reports
119. Christoph Reinartz Team Lead UI/UX @trivago
 
 Web: www.creinartz.de
 twitter: @pistenprinz