Sick of feeling guilty about your Figma components?

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?

Wile E Coyote releasing a catapult holding a large bolder, but instead of launching it falls onto him

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?!

Marge Simpson hiding behind her hand, embarrassed

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:

  • Win new business
  • Make client presentations
  • Do QA for the developers
  • Plan, conduct, and analyze user research
  • Bookkeeping, taxes
  • Market yourself on twitter, linkedin, etc.
  • Update your portfolio site
  • Keep up with whatever feature Figma just dropped
  • Oh, and we can't forget actually doing the design work

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.

scene from The Princess Diaries after Paulo gives princess Mia a makeover and reveals his work by moving two portraits of her away from her face

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.

Tuned up, supercharged components... all while you were asleep.

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:

  1. You and I meet to go through your file to figure out what you need cleaned up. Your job is to show me what you’d most love me to work on, and my job is to take notes. By the end of the call we’ll have a ranked, prioritized list of components you want me to tackle.
  2. You grant me edit access to the file, and I’ll get to work.
  3. Once my work is complete, I’ll send you a summary of what got done so you know exactly what changed.

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.

For the first time, this project feels like one where you can actually focus on the design work.

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!

No more leaving money on the table...

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:

  • Happier developers who don’t need to ask as many questions, and are less likely to make mistakes. That means code gets written faster, and more accurately. Fast and accurate code means the product takes less time to get built, and that saves the client money. You look good, the dev looks good, and the client saves money. Win, win win.
  • If the file ever gets handed over to another designer, that designer won’t have to deal with the headache of untangling your mess because... well, what mess? You’re proud of your work and its contents! Quite frankly, another designer seeing your working files becomes a networking and brag opportunity. If they appreciate well built and organized components like you, they’ll be even more impressed than the client. They might even remember your name and recommend you for work that they can’t take on. Imagine your working files becoming marketing material.
  • Saying “yes” to follow-up projects is 10x easier with well built components. You can confidently expand on the original work knowing you have a strong foundation. No more dread and guilt when the client says, “hey, after this launches we’d love to work with you on V2—are you available?”, because... well, what is there to dread? You’ve got clean, lean components ready to go. None of that “secret clean up work” between the projects—it’s already done. You had the good sense to get that taken care of already.

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!

Order a component tune up

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:

❖ Component tune up includes

Configurability enhancements

  • Ensure the optimal property types are being used
  • Clear naming on all properties
  • Property order aligned with usage

Override protection inspection

  • If you’re losing overrides on common swaps, I’ll figure out why they’re happening and attempt to fix them

Performance & layer polishing

  • I'll optimize the layer architecture to be as memory-performant as possible. This will keep your files and prototypes snappy and light.
  • Name every layer.
  • Removal of unnecessary layers (eg rectangles, groups) and outdated workarounds (eg. drop shadow for border on one side)

Auto layout repair & resiliency check

  • Have auto layout wrinkles? I’ll iron them out. Not sure? Don’t worry, I’ll QA each component I work on for auto layout resiliency and correct any wrinkles I encounter.
  • Ensure latest auto layout features are being used where appropriate (wrapping, min and max width)

Prototyping interactions

  • Add and test prototyping interactions where appropriate, using a mix of variables and variants
Order a component tune up

Optional add-ons

+ Variable wiring

I’ll wire up your components to variable collections, and create any variable collections that are missing.

+ Subcomponent creation

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.

+ Zero-frame installation

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.

+ Video demo re-cap

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!

+ Extra 4 hours of post-tune-up support

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.

Pricing

$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:

  1. It helps us prioritize which components to work on.
  2. It creates a ceiling for the budget: the base price will never go above $715 (though buying add-on services will increase the total price).
  3. It ensures I spend a minimal amount of time in yours (or your client's) Figma workspace to avoid running up your bill.

Frequently asked questions

How does billing work?

I don't do freelance, I work in-house—can I still hire you?

My components are built from scratch—is that okay?

My components are from a pre-made UI kit—can I still hire you?

What if I need help with lots of components, like more than 12?

My client’s work is sensitive, and I need their permission to let you into the Figma file.

Will my Figma bill increase when I add you as an editor?

How about I just give you a .fig file to work in, and you give me a .fig back?

What about the "workspace connect" feature announced at Config 2024?

Order a component tune up

Still have questions? I've got answers! Send me an email.