▲ 1 r/DesignSystems
Adding a new brand to a design system with AI
Adding a new brand without duplicating the design system.
Components stay the same - tokens, colors and branding adapt automatically.
u/kr1sck — 2 days ago
▲ 2 r/DesignSystems
AI kept rebuilding components I already had, so I built a tool that treats the design system as the source of truth
I've been trying to design interfaces with AI, and I keep running into the same problem.
The project already has a UI kit: components, variants, tokens, the lot. I ask the agent to add a button to a screen, and instead of using the Button component sitting right there in the codebase, it draws a new one. Slightly smaller. Slightly different. One more inconsistency to clean up.
That's what pushed me to try dedicated design tools.
I started with Claude Design. I couldn't get my existing UI kit into it because I hit the 5 MB limit, so I let it build a design system from scratch instead.
It duplicated components and icons. The same icon was drawn again on the next page, and by the third screen it looked different each time. I also couldn't point it at files on my machine or give it the tree of Markdown skills and project rules my agents already use.
The result wasn't product-ready. I still had to assemble the actual UI kit and design system by hand afterward.
Then I tried Figma Make. In my experience, it accepted my UI kit but never really treated it as the source of truth. Screens were built around my components rather than from them.
Skills were the other half of the problem. Mine are organized as a tree of Markdown files across multiple folders, and there was no clean way to import them or keep them synchronized with the codebase.
But the biggest problem was extension. If a prop or component was missing, the system didn't extend the kit. It either left the capability missing or created a one-off implementation, putting me back where I started.
Both are useful tools. They just stop at the exact boundary I needed to cross: designing against the real system, then extending that system when a screen requires something new.
So I built Varelyo for that workflow.
Varelyo opens your local React project and reads its components, variants, sizes, and tokens directly from source. The works directly with JSX code, so the component you edit is the same component your project imports.
If a screen needs a missing prop or variant, Varelyo adds it to the component. If it needs a new component or token, it adds that to the system according to your project's rules instead of dropping a one-off implementation into the page.
Agent skills are generated from the source and updated when the source changes. A second brand can use the same components with different token values rather than forking the whole system.
What comes out is ordinary JSX built from your own components and tokens, on an ordinary Git branch. There's no proprietary design file that needs to be translated back into code.
u/kr1sck — 3 days ago
▲ 1 r/AskPhotography
Does anyone else feel like Lightroom export is the slowest part of gallery delivery?
Does anyone else feel like Lightroom export is the slowest part of gallery delivery?
For big galleries it always feels weird that the workflow is still just waiting for export and then waiting again for upload.
Feels like a huge time sink.
We’ve been experimenting with a workflow where photos start syncing to the gallery while Lightroom is still exporting, so both happen at the same time.
Curious if photographers here would actually use something like this or if most people just leave exports running overnight anyway.
u/kr1sck — 3 months ago
A faster proofing workflow: upload previews while RAWs export to JPEG
I’m working on Folderproof, a client proofing workflow for photographers.
The main idea is simple: while Lightroom is exporting RAW files to JPEG previews, Folderproof starts uploading those previews to a private client gallery automatically. So instead of waiting for the full export to finish before the gallery starts uploading, both steps happen in parallel.
The client can review sooner, RAW files stay on the photographer’s computer, and after the client selects favorites, Folderproof creates a local Client Selected folder with the matching RAW + JPEG files.
Curious if this approach makes sense to other photographers.
u/kr1sck — 3 months ago
▲ 0 r/AskPhotography
What’s the one thing about your client gallery setup you’ve just learned to live with?
Been looking around at Pixieset, Pic-Time, ShootProof, SmugMug, and even people just sending Dropbox or Drive links.
The more I read, the more it seems like everyone has one specific thing that annoys them, but they just live with it because switching would probably bring a different set of problems.
Curious what that thing is for you.
Could be slow uploads, clients struggling to download photos on mobile, proofing/favorites feeling clunky, storage costs creeping up, Lightroom export being annoying, clients getting lost in the gallery and emailing you instead of clicking the button, or something else.
Also curious what you shoot, because I’m guessing weddings, events, portraits, sports, etc. all run into different problems.
Not trying to start a which platform is best thread. More interested in the small annoying parts of the workflow that you’ve just accepted because nothing else really solves them.
u/kr1sck — 3 months ago
How do you get from client picked these photos back to the matching RAW files?
I'm a developer talking to photographers about their proofing workflow, trying to wrap my head around what actually happens after a client picks their favorites.
From what I've heard so far, it usually goes something like:
* client picks favorites in a gallery (or just sends them over email/message)
* photographer goes back and matches filenames to the local RAW/JPEG folders
* builds a folder for retouching or delivery by hand
If you shoot weddings, portraits, families, events, commercial — whatever — I'd love to hear how this actually looks for you:
* What gallery or proofing tool are you using these days?
* Are you uploading full-size JPEGs, smaller previews, or something else?
* Once the client picks, how do you actually pull the original files together?
Not pitching anything, promise. Just trying to understand how this part of the workflow really works in practice, because every photographer I talk to seems to do it a bit differently.
.
u/kr1sck — 3 months ago
▲ 2 r/AskPhotography
Photographers: do clients picking photos still leave you manually hunting RAW files?
I'm a developer, not a photographer. I want to sanity-check a workflow
problem with people who actually live in it.
A wedding photographer friend kept losing Sunday afternoons to the same
task: client picks favorites in a gallery or sends a filename list, and
then he has to manually find the matching RAWs and JPEGs across shoot
folders before retouching can start.
When I asked a few other photographers, the pattern sounded similar:
proofing tools end at "client picked," but the handoff back to the local
drive is still manual.
I'm working on a small desktop tool for this. The idea is: it watches the
Lightroom export folder, creates a private client gallery from preview
JPEGs, and when the client is done selecting, it prepares a local Client
Selected folder with the matching RAW + JPEG files.
A few honest notes:
- Mac only today. Windows is planned, but not ready yet.
- RAW files would stay on the photographer's computer.
- Clients would not need an account or install anything.
- The selection should be reopenable if the client picked the wrong photos.
What I'm trying to figure out:
Is this actually a recurring pain for working photographers, or is it a
weird edge case from one friend's workflow?
If you deal with filename lists, screenshots, or manual RAW matching after
client selects, how are you handling it today?
u/kr1sck — 3 months ago