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Nathan A Curtis

@nathanacurtis.bsky.social

1.3K followers 93 following 120 posts

Design systems consultant at Directed Edges in Fairfax, VA USA. Figma Specs plugin creator. Blogger on @medium. Formerly EightShapes. Supports Arsenal, University of Chicago and Virginia Tech. From Ohio, originally.

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · 16h

Did you see the other reply with substack? Is that better?

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · 18h

I'm already pretty maxed with the consulting + plugin + writing + etc. I'm almost never inclined to custom build infrastructure (see my clear relinquishing of profit potential by using Figma's payment platform for my plugin).

Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · 18h

Like this? Is Substack better?
nathanacurtis.substack.com/p/components...

Components as Data

How to define components independent of platforms to scale a system’s impact

nathanacurtis.substack.com

Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · 18h

Why?

Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · 2d

Analysis of Variants and the Anova Plugin:
Generating component data that design systems teams need

The Anova plugin, recently released in the Figma community, could be a part of a process that manages component data from (and back into) Figma.

medium.com/@nathanacurt...

Analysis of Variants

Generating component data that design systems teams need

medium.com

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Reposted by Nathan A Curtis

Brad Frost @bradfrost.com · 2d

You know it's gonna be a good week when you start it off talking to DESIGN SYSTEM WIZARDS @nathanacurtis.bsky.social and @bencallahan.com!

Nathan Curtis, Ben Callahan, and Brad on a Zoom call

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · 14d

I didn't have Quine-McClusky on my bingo card for things I'd learn about this year, but there you have it. All in an effort to make visible something designers have been implying for years.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine%E...

Quine–McCluskey algorithm - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · 15d

“Components as Data“, my latest on Medium: medium.com/@nathanacurt...

Components as Data

How to define components independent of platforms to scale a system’s impact

medium.com

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · Sep 5

Have a great session. That place is fantastic!

Reposted by Nathan A Curtis

Ben Callahan @bencallahan.com · Aug 19

Welcome back to The Question, @nathanacurtis.bsky.social!

This week, we're exploring where #AI is failing #designsystems.

Answer by Wednesday to get your invite to the deep dive on Thursday at Noon Eastern:

bit.ly/answerTheQue...

This only works if you join in!

See you Thursday,
b

Ben Callahan and Nathan Curtis will co host The Question, Episode 060 on Where AI is Failing.

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · Aug 12

More often than not, the two represent high cohesion, loose-at-best coupling environments.

They have different needs. They change separately, at (often very) different rates and cadences. They are served by distinct frameworks and are run by different organizations.

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · Aug 3

A dubious inclusion for sure. At least it wasn’t something as obscure as something like “Word that could also all start with DRE.” Those really bug me.

Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · Aug 2

Sure, green and purple were a bit of a stretch, but how is that any less normal than usual?

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · Jul 25

Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · Jul 7

I was surprised and a leery when I learned that’s the format Figma chose to return results from their MCP server, and wondered if that was a broader emerging reality.

That seems very crude for designs already encoded with a richer design token vocabulary.

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · Jul 7

If all these tools norm on Tailwind, does that anoint Tailwind as the de facto language of styling? If so, what effect does that have on design systems?

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · Jul 6

Caught a couple Banksys in Park City, Utah

Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · Jun 20

I just got called the "Dungeon Master of Design Systems" by a client collaborator. Not sure how to take that one, but sure, let's go on a quest and I'll be your guide!

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Reposted by Nathan A Curtis

Stuart Robson @sturobson.com · Jun 20

I've shared this before, but it's awesome.

Building Smart Layouts, slides from @ishadeed.com's recent talk @cssday.nl

www.figma.com/deck/NewdIWN...

#CSS #FrontEnd #WebDev #WebDesign

Figma

Created with Figma

www.figma.com

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · Jun 13

I'm diving perhaps too deep as I develop teaching materials for UI Component Props. I'm sensing I could do a whole conference talk on tips and tricks for solely enum/variant props.

Table comparing code and Figma approaches to enum/variant props.

Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · May 31

I have been running a 90min workshop on that for ~5-7 yrs, would be happy to compare notes.

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · May 31

Planning what?
Objectives/increment-based things?
Big features/capabilities?
A generational shift?
Team growth/shifts?

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Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · May 20

Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.

e. e. cummings

Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · May 19

I'm familiar coding best practices for with Web Components and React when it comes to composition and slots. I'm not much at all with SwiftUI. What resources best explain the equivalent practices for slots on SwiftUI?

Nathan A Curtis @nathanacurtis.bsky.social · May 16

At @intodesignsystems.bsky.social in a couple weeks, I can't wait to present the various tools I use to communicate component architecture ideas in Figma, including props, enums and layers I combine into an overall "API sketch."

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