If you’ve ever worked in an agency, you know that collaboration and efficiency are the keys to staying productive. Working in a team is challenging because everyone has different responsibilities and skill sets. You’re not just designing pages or individual components—you’re creating systems that will drive the visual identity of your projects going forward. That means every element needs to be considered about its impact on other elements. How can you create consistency without sacrificing creativity? The answer is simple: by using a workflow that keeps everything organized and accessible, so there aren’t any surprises later on. If you want to get the most out of your brand and streamline your workflow, check out these best practices for designing systems in Webflow.
Defining your visual language in Webflow
Before you even begin designing your systems, you need to define your visual language. What is a visual language? It’s the overall style and approach to visuals (like colours, patterns, fonts, and imagery) that work together to create consistency. By defining your visual language, you can create a holistic approach to design so that your pages look like they belong to the same brand. When you’re defining your visual language, it might be helpful to make some visual reference boards. This will give you a good idea of the colours, patterns, fonts, and imagery you want to incorporate into your designs. It’s important to note that the visual language you define will change and grow over time. As your team grows, you might bring on designers who have different approaches to design. The visual language defined by your team will dictate how every element integrates.
Create a default export
When you’re designing, it’s easy to get caught up in the details and lose track of the bigger picture. At some point in the process, you’ll need to present your work to stakeholders. When that happens, you’ll want to make sure your designs are ready to go. That means you need to create a default export that includes the following:
– A complete visual breakdown
– Text styles – Fonts and colours
– Default image and video placements
This will make sure everything falls into place when you’re designing components. You’ll skip the back-and-forth with your team, and they’ll be able to review your work as it stands.
Use Artboards to lay out pages
An Artboard is a blank canvas in Webflow that you can use to build a page. Artboards allow you to design multiple pages at once, which helps you stay organized and consistent. You can also create designs for different devices, like smartphones, laptops, and tablets, within the same Artboard. If you’re designing for more than one team, this is a great way to make sure everyone is working off the same visual language. A visual breakdown of your pages will make it easy for everyone to understand the relationship between each element. This will make it even easier to create a default export that includes all the details. You can also use Artboards to create a visual breakdown of your designs to help stakeholders understand how everything works together.
Define type and colour with Markup
When you’re designing, you’ll have to come up with type and colour choices. How do you know that what you’re picking is consistent with the rest of your visual language? You can use Markup to define type and colour. Markup is an editor that allows you to write CSS code right in Webflow. Using Markup, you can create styles for a specific element, like text or a logo. This makes it easier to create more than one instance of an element, and it allows you to override default styles. You can also use Markup to define type and colour. This will make it easier to pick visual vocabulary that’s consistent with your visual language.
Bottom line
When you’re designing systems, consistency is key. This means that you should use the same design elements for each page, like logos and footer elements. It also means that everything should be placed according to a consistent grid. This will create a more consistent experience for users and make it easier to maintain brand standards across pages. It will also make it easier for designers to create new pages because they’ll be following a consistent process.
If you want to create pages that look like they belong to the same brand, you have to follow these best practices for designing systems in Webflow. Start by defining your visual language and creating a default export. Then, use Artboards to lay out your pages and define type and colour with Markup. With these techniques, you’ll be able to create consistent and cohesive designs that are easy to maintain across projects.
