Every project starts off with great intentions.
You say, "I'm going to keep better organized this time!"
But before you know it, you've reached the end of the project. And, once again, your components are in rough shape...
Fragile auto layout settings. Nonsense props an variants, some still named "Property 3" and "variant12". Duplicates of the same piece of UI. "❖ card NEW NEW". Gigantic variant sets.
And don't even bring up variables...
As you're wrapping up, the client asks, “hey, are you available to do version 2?"
Oh no.
"It should be easy and fast since you already laid the foundation, right?”
The thought of continuing to design with those components? … *gulp*
The properties are all over the place.
You never fixed that floating label input.
You wanted to use variables, but you never had the time to create and wire them to your components.
The client continues on to say, “if you’re too booked up can we’ll hand the file over to another designer for them to use.”
... Another designer working with that rat's nest you created?!
This is becoming a sick game of would-you-rather…
What’s worse?
Having to clean up your file in a secret hurry (can’t let the client know how sloppy you let things get) before the new contract starts?
Or having to clean up your own file in a secret hurry to not put another designer through the hell of them having to untangle that mess?
And you can’t bill for either… Ugh.
The most annoying part is knowing that you’re more than capable of creating strong, well organized components!
It's the whole reason you feel guilty to begin with!
You have standards!
But, as always, there's never enough time for this stuff. When push comes to shove, building pristine components can't come first.
Freelancers have to wear every single hat. You can't justify spending time on compoentry when you need to:
Shoot, even if you do have the time for allllll of that and keeping clean components... be honest...
Is that really how you want to spend your time?
Well, what if you didn’t have to?
What if this time next week you open one of your Figma files, and all of the gnarly, knotty components you had cobbled together were magically supercharged and immaculately clean.
Auto layout working perfectly. Ability to add layers to instances with slots and subcomponents. Everything named. Properties all organized. Colors and spacing hooked up to variable collections. Working prototype connections.
Or taking a long weekend.
Or working on a different project for another client.
How?
You hired me. Your personal Figma file fairy.
I go into your file to give your componentry a thorough and proper tune up.
This frees you up to tackle your other to-dos, and finally feel good while you do your design work.
Here’s how it goes:
Yes, really! Just three steps!
Imagine waking up to a new work week, but with a twist: you feel excited.
Kinda like Christmas!
With gleeful anticipation, you open up the Figma file, excited to see what’s changed.
Ahh! It’s pristine!
You resist clicking through all the pages and start with an unread comment,
“Good morning! Here’s everything that’s been cleaned up,” followed by a neat bullet-list summary of what got done while you were enjoying your weekend.
You use the links in the comment to jump to the first item in the list: that floating label input component you had been wrestling with for the past two weeks.
And like a stress-knot that’s been massaged out, you sigh with relief when you see it now works exactly as you had hoped.
FINALLY! The text override is protected when the label floats in and out of the input… and it has a true transparent background. Woah.
You go to the next item.
Oh, new screens? Aha, okay!
She installed a new variable collection to handle different sizes! Oh geez, this cut down the number of variants by like 3x.
You go back to the summary comment.
At the end of the message there’s a link to a 5m video demo showing how newly refactored components no longer lose their overrides when swapping between them!
You pull away from the screen and lean back in your chair.
… Wow.
And with all your newly freed up mental space, you finally feel like you have enough time and mental space to work with developers, improve client presentations—shoot—you may even be able to say “yes” next time the client asks if they can take you on for more work!
Better still, the client and devs are beyond impressed. They say, “we’ve never worked with someone as organized as you!”
You tell them, “it all comes down to knowing my strengths and weaknesses, and how to best spend my time.”
At heart you are organized.
It’s why you can appreciate this kind of service!
You understand the value that well-built components bring to your process.
But to take the time to do it yourself?? That’s not what your clients hire you for.
The client is paying you for your UX expertise, they don’t really care if you use variants VS variables. You're not selling Figma files, you're selling good design.
But you care! You know how good it feels to work within, and hand off, a file with resilient and well organized components. The benefits are clear:
There’s a reason people hire housekeepers, personal chefs, and financial advisors.
Heck, even if you don’t use any of those services, surely you’ve ordered takeout before?
Or maybe, despite having the time for those tasks, you were in a groove. In the zone.
Flow state.
And because you know where your energy is best spent, you reach for a service that would let you not break your concentration. Your groove!
Next time you need a personal file fairy, hit me up.
Your personal componentry carpenter!
You’ll be impressing clients and devs, boosting your reputation, and designing at a whole new level with premium componentry in no time.
Here’s everything you get:
I’ll wire up your components to variable collections, and create any variable collections that are missing.
Many components benefit from using subcomponents instead of variants. I’ll create the subcomponents for you, install them, and show you how to use them in a video demo.
Only needed for components where you want to edit the width of it as a nested instance within another component. You can also do this yourself, I have a blog post that explains how.
If you’d like this to double as an educational experience, I can break down all the edits I’m making for each component, and why I’m making them. You’ll learn why the changes I make elevate the quality of the component, and you’ll probably learn some keyboard shortcuts and other process things too. This could reduce your need to hire me again in the future!
This is for folks who want to be able to ask me follow up questions about the changes I made after the fact. This time is strictly for me to coach you and answer questions, not for me to make additional edits. Expires 1 week after initial work concludes.
$65 per component.
You may even be able to pass this cost off to your client if your contract has a clause about bringing in outside help!
For each engagement I require a minimum of 3 components, and up to a maximum of 12 components. This top-limit is important for three reasons:
Still have questions? I've got answers! Send me an email.