My point of view on atomicity

The foundations of atomic design were there even before Brad Frost and you should understand how to take advantage of this concept in your daily life.

Atomic design is not a technique or a methodology. It’s a concept: componentizing something, from the smallest element to the largest.

Even on different platforms (code editor vs image editor), it’s possible to improve the alignment between design and code by applying the same concept, and from there, a hierarchic tree and similar controls.

Every designer loves to work with symbols, and developers were already componentizing things before you even opened Photoshop for the first time. But is there still room for improvement? There always is :)

I’m not going to take long on this subject since this isn’t new, but I want to make it clear as to why I consider it a fundamental part of the design process:

Consistency

Well-defined components don’t leave room for consistency problems, no matter how many screens your project has.

Flexibility

The logic that “fixed” components generate flexibility might sound conflicting, but I have one word for you: LEGO.

Speed

Once the component set is structured, the construction of new screens becomes incredibly quicker (around 80% faster, from my own personal experience).

Control

An atomic structure naturally implies an increase on the scale of control. If an icon is a quark, by altering it, you alter even the most complex elements, such as molecules or pages.