Organizing multiple libraries

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1

I’m working with multiple libraries. We have one for core components used across products, and then other libraries and toolkits for specific products. If we are linking to both the core components and product library, is there a way to combine them so a list of all components are additive in a way? Or, should we simply bake in all core components that are relevant to any product library and have product designers only use their specific libraries, without linking to core components? Sorry if this is confusing, and can help clarify if any questions of course. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

2

Hey Ryan,

I’m sorry I don’t understand your concern. But, we can definitely create multiple libraries in Figma and be able to use those in any of our projects. We generally create a master components file for icons (used across multiple projects), another one for Illustrations (used across multiple projects) and so on… We never faced any problem with our prototypes or anything. Hope that clears your question but if not, could you explain a bit more about your issue.

3

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply. The question is more oriented around how to architect multiple libraries if they are both component based and both used for a project. If we consider our primary users being product designers needed to link multiple libraries, how might we setup the libraries so that it’s intuitive where to find the best version of a component? For example, we use buttons in two different libraries, our Core Components Library, and our Dashboard Library. If one of our designers is working on a new experience in the Dashboard, should we be copying everything from Core Components into the Dashboard, or linking both libraries to limit confusion on where to find Core components vs Dashboard specific components. Hope that clarifies, but let me know if not.

Best,
Ryan

4

this is how we have managed our libraries, might be helpful: (we are a edtech company just for reference)

  1. Platform Design components - Teacher
  2. Platform Design components - Students
  3. Icons
  4. Social media illustrations
  5. Colours
  6. Text styles