User Interface features and kits…these are not the most popular part of any web designer’s job.
And if you are a lazy designer – well, at least someone who hates the time that is required to get UI kits done – you are always on the lookout for a better way.
After all, the ROI from icons, slicers, controls, buttons and the other bits and pieces that make each project unique is rarely all that it should be. The time, the details, and the “getting it right” cannot really repay you in full.
Of course, you might rely on outsourced help for this part of a project and that creates a double threat to your peace of mind because you have to work with someone who gets paid up front, needs some guidance, and who you must then wait for to do the job.
Right?
This asks a lot of the designer who formats and sends guidelines, answers any questions, and who makes a financial commitment with only a few guarantees behind the partnership. It is even worse when a client is waiting for you to turn in the work and your subcontractor is still dealing with their part of the project.
Yes…UI kits are a true pain in the neck, and can be something that end up being a “make or break” part of your business. This is why it is so important to find a way to get UI kits done in a timely manner, but also in a way that is unique and appealing to your customer.
So, there’s the challenge: How do you meet the technical standards in terms of perfect balance and look, create elements that deliver the performance needed, and yet do this in an amount of time that allows you to actually profit from the work?
Additionally, there is always the risk that you can commit the time and still leave your customer unhappy with the outcome. This is a death knell to your business, and one unhappy client can cause a huge ripple of bad word of mouth that might doom the business to failure or long term struggling.
What is the solution? Finding a reliable source for UI design kits.
Finding Good Kits…
You can scout around for resources, but the only actual answers you will find are poor and shoddy directories or extremely expensive design firms that convert your project into a money losing venture rather than a profitable experience.
These firms might make truly unique icons, buttons, and other interface tools, but you are going to pay that famous “top dollar” for them, and you may still get a negative reaction from the customer. So, this tells us that you have to have a good tool for creating your own, and being able to also affordably redo any work that a client dislikes without cutting further into the budget.
“That,” you might reasonably say, “is pure fantasy.”
However, you would be wrong in thinking this way because there are some very valid and workable solutions of this kind.
PixelKit.com is the Ideal Answer.
If your design projects frequently call for the inclusion of UI kits, you can visit PixelKit to checkout their options. In a nutshell, this is an online library of designer’s tools and resources – including a large number of unique UI kits.
In fact, their main emphasis is to offer UI kits that are comprehensive, useful, and likely to provide a complete solution. You will find entire sets of icons, menu features, buttons, sliders, app screens, and other common design elements.
It saves you a huge amount of time by giving you access to out of the box options, but it also ensures that your financial risks are minimal. With a $39 annual fee (that’s right; it says annual not monthly) you will be able to get technically perfect designs that can be swapped out or altered without a huge amount of additional effort or expense.
Premium Features
Consider that your annual subscription provides you to access with the following list of features, plus even more:
- Extensive graphics – each kit has an enormous library of icons and elements, and this means that customizing your work is far easier and faster than ever;
- Compatibility – every kit works with 960 grids, and this means you can incorporate them into nearly any HTML layout;
- Scalability – every graphic can be scaled as needed, and this means that you can begin to use vector graphics on every single component;
- Mobility – you cannot feasibly work in web design if your pages are not also mobile browser friendly, and with the PixelKit features you are mobile compatible; and
- Updated all the time – every month sees the arrival of new designs and kits.
The Main Benefit
So, the benefits of PixelKit are immense, but don’t forget that the number one benefit is the time you save. You won’t have to waste time or money seeking a subcontractor, doing the work yourself, and redoing it if the client doesn’t like the design. Instead, you just plug in the design and send the work on its way.
Do you have a better resource for UI kits? Let us know…
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