#31 Brad Frost (Founder, Atomic Design) - Breaking down design systems to atomic elements

The Hacking UI Podcast - with Sagi Shrieber & David Tintner

Episode #31: Brad Frost We are honored to have with us today, the inspiring Brad Frost, Founder and inventor of the "

Atomic Design" system.

Brad started as a web designer, came out through the agency world, doing client work, started a shop, and eventually found himself also consulting for teams, doing workshops, writing a blog and hosting a podcast.

Besides being a web designer, a developer, an Author and a Host, Brad's background as a musician also connects with his work, and why he believes in the notes and the rules that make all the piece together.

In this episode, Brad shared with us his thoughts and insights about how to build a design system and a development collaborative work, and how to implement that thinking in your organization.

This is the sixth episode of the third season of the Hacking UI podcast - 'Scaling a Career'.

In this season we have 10 amazing guests for you, who are leaders and influencers from a variety of different backgrounds. Design managers, development leaders, entrepreneurs and product geniuses that we admire, and we'll be sharing a new episode every Thursday.

Please support our amazing sponsors

Invision:

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Links from the show

• Brad's Website - BradFrost.com
• His book - Atomic Design
• Twitter - @Brad_Frost

Recommendations for podcasts and tools

• Anna Debenham and Brad Frost - 'The Style Guide Podcast'
• Dave Rupert and Chris Coyier - 'Shop Talk Show'
• Website Style Guide Resources - Styleguides.io
• Build Atomic Design Systems - Pattern Lab

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Key points from this episode:

• Learn about Brad's background and how he started as a web designer. [00:04:15]
• Get tips for managing time and help you to get into habits. [00:08:55]
• Understand the value of self-promotion and doing stuff for free. [00:10:40]
• Find out how Brad got to writing the Atomic Design book. [00:15:50]
• Brad shares his framework and guidelines for taking decisions to breakthrough and navigating your career. [00:17:10]
• Find out about Brad's work and what he cannot wait to do. [00:26:27]
• Learn about how Brad built his website and the process of doing it all in the browser with pattern lab. [00:25:10]
• Understand the medium in which you are designing for, coding and its constraints. [00:28:28]
• Learn about thinking of UI as a hierarchy, and how atomic design breaks things down. [00:32:07]
• Learn about structural prep work, and about thinking and understanding components and hierarchy when you take a project from a developer perspective. [00:38:00]
• Get Bits of Advice for companies that have problems with the separation from design and the development collaboration. [00:46:00]
• Understand design systems and how to build a design and development collaborative work. [00:52:10]
• Tips for Designers and freelancers who starting out. [00:55:00]
• Brad shares his recommendations for podcasts and his favorite tools. [00:56:20]

About The Hacking UI Podcast The Hacking UI podcast is hosted by Sagi Shrieber and David Tintner, a designer, and developer who are also both entrepreneurs, bloggers, productivity/time-hacking maniacs, and all around tech geeks.

We are thrilled to launch the third season of the Hacking UI podcast, where we hack our way through product design, development, and creative entrepreneurship.

Our first season, was called ‘Scaling a Design Team’, the Second season was called ‘Scaling a Side Project’ and we’ve decided to call this season - ‘Scaling a Career’.

In this season we have 10 amazing guests for you, who are leaders and influencers from a variety of different backgrounds. We have design managers, development leaders, entrepreneurs and product geniuses.