When working with a design team, there comes a time when all the mockups, prototypes, and design files come together to form a cohesive whole. This moment is called a design handoff, a critical juncture for both teams. A smooth transition can set the stage for a successful project. On the other hand, if the handoff is messy and disorganized, it can lead to confusion, miscommunication, and errors. 

In this article, we’ll explore design system tools in detail. You’ll learn what a design handoff is, why it matters, and how to make this transition as smooth as possible.  We'll also introduce you to Ion’s design-to-code tool and how it can help facilitate better design handoffs.

What is a Design Handoff?

Design handoff refers to the stage of the product development process where designers hand off their concepts for implementation. It occurs after prototypes have been tested and all design specifications have been satisfied. After that, developers receive the design to start coding. 

Even if the handoff happens after the design phase, designers and developers must communicate well at the beginning of each design assignment. The handoff process converts design output into information much more focused on software engineering, allowing the teams of designers and developers to interact in a common language.  

Why It Matters  

Handoffs between designers and developers are critical moments in product life cycles because they signal a product or feature moving from the dreaming stage to the doing stage. It’s similar to ensuring a construction crew understands the blueprints of a house. Here’s why getting developer handoffs right is essential: 

• They can prevent or cause rework down the road. Getting your product or feature right first prevents wasted time and money. 
• They affect time-to-delivery. Preventing back-and-forth between designers and developers is a great way to avoid delivery from being stalled. 
• They affect the quality of delivery. Miscommunication impacts the end product and results in back-and-forth fatigue (that’s not an official term, but it should be). 
• They can clarify missing information. Often, developers have questions that they haven’t considered because they’re approaching a solution from two different angles. 

A great handoff addresses those gaps in information. Without an effective design handoff process, designers and engineers spend hours, days, or weeks back and forth trying to bridge the gap between design and development.

Related Reading

• Design System Documentation
• Design System vs Style Guide

What Should Be Included In a Design Handoff?

Design Systems: The Blueprint for Design Handoff

A design system, a style guide, is the first step to a practical design handoff. This is where the basic standardized information about product branding will be located, such as

• Colors
• Typography
• Spacing
• Grids

We will refer to these values later when creating subsequent components. 

Wireframes & User Flows: Both Critical to an Effective Handoff

Before we start designing the interface, we need to determine how the product is supposed to work. We use wireframes that allow you to draw the most essential functionalities quickly. By connecting wireframes, we give them flow, setting the path the product user will follow. Once we see how the product is supposed to work, we can move on to styling. 

High-Fidelity Screens Help Us Visualize the Final Product

We can create the right screens by knowing the information architecture of a given product and having access to the component library. We use component variants to supplement the views with different states for:

•  Buttons
• Text fields
• Empty states
• Errors 

Prototypes: The Bridge Between Design and Development

Following the previously established flow, we obtain a prototype by combining interactive objects with appropriate screens. Prototypes are helpful in the development process and for testing on users to eliminate errors. Thanks to Smart Animate, Figma allows you to prototype simple transitions between views and more advanced ones. This way, the developer will know how the implemented product should behave during the interaction. 

9 Biggest Challenges Of Design Handoffs

1. The Silent Killer of Design Handoffs: Poor Communication

As is common knowledge, communication is the foundation of any successful relationship. It is also necessary during the design-to-dev handoff process so that the designer and developer can continue to have a good working relationship. 

It has been found that poor communication between the two teams can cause a variety of misinterpretations and issues, which harms the user experience. 

2. Design Handoffs Get Messy Without Design Systems

A proper design system is necessary for designers to have clear parameters that may be very useful. With a design system, the designers get more consistent, positively impacting user experiences and demotivating developers. Without a design system, the entire handoff procedure will be affected negatively. 

3. Lack of Documentation Makes Design Handoffs Difficult

Simply giving developers access to design elements can result in misunderstandings and errors. There may be a language barrier among the development team members, making it challenging to comprehend the following:

• Design states
• Colors
• Fonts

Developers might need help implementing the designer's vision fully or have to rely on hunches to finish the implementation, which could produce less-than-ideal outcomes. To ensure everyone knows the design vision and execution needs, designers must offer thorough documentation and constantly communicate with developers. 

4. Inconsistency Creates Confusion During Design Handoffs

Inconsistency can result in more challenging situations. You can see that a component in the design mockups has different versions in different mockups or does not even follow the documentation in some cases—for example, the size of the typeface. When a developer encounters these kinds of inconsistencies, they may need clarification. 

5. Rejection Due to Technical Limitations

Designers may produce excellent features based on research or discussions with clients and product managers. Even so, the development team may only accept certain features due to technological restrictions that make implementation challenging or impossible. Designers and product managers who spent time and money developing the feature may need more support. 

6. Unrealistic Expectations From Design Handoffs

The problem with these methods is that they don’t have technical constraints, creating unrealistic expectations for designers and product teams. They’re also not part of the actual prototype, so engineers have to go from a prototype to an external file to watch the video animation and see how it all fits together.

7. Poor Image-Based Tools for Rendering Code

Another issue is converting a design to code. Most image-based design tools offer plugins or applications that generate an HTML template with accompanying CSS. Designers think this is sufficient, but engineers can’t replicate the designs with this code—the two teams speak different languages with insufficient interpretation.

8. Technical Constraints Create Design Drift

Another cause of design drift is the rendering engine of the browser or device displaying your product. The most common example is the drift between colors and gradients from mockups to final code.

9. Too Many Design Handoff Tools Create Confusion

And lastly, design handoffs often include multiple tools for:

• Design files
• Prototypes
• Documentation
• Assets
• Collaboration

Handoffs are prone to mistakes and errors as everything spreads across different locations and platforms.

Related Reading

• Design System Governance
  
• What is a Design System
• Design System vs Component Library

How To Ensure A Smooth Design Handoff With These 5 Tips

1. Communication Is Key to a Smooth Design Handoff

Communication between design and development teams often gets overlooked, even though it may seem obvious. Fluid communication helps developers get a head start on potential issues during the handoff. As such, designers should start handing off their designs to developers as soon as possible, keeping the lines of communication open. 

Weekly discussions or check-in meetings should be the norm from day one of the project. If you’ve joined a new team, inquire about their current processes. 

• What are their tools? 
• What do their rituals look like? 
• How long are their sprint cycles?

Asking these questions will help you understand how the team likes to communicate best and slot in accordingly. 

If you’re working freelance or remotely, hopping on a plane to meet face-to-face at the beginning of the process rather than at the end will help iron out any potential clashes during the handoff. If you can’t meet in person, prioritize video conferencing meetings and make adequate time to chat with your colleagues weekly. 

2. Foster a Mutual Understanding Between Teams

A disorganized handoff may occur due to a lack of understanding about the challenges faced by each side. To ease brewing frustrations:

• Consider holding regular lunch and learn sessions to encourage sharing skills
• Bridging the social gap
• Building empathy between teams.

This practice is beneficial for designers, as it allows them to understand better the technology that enables their design. 

Building empathy isn’t just about the work; reflecting on how you have fun and facilitating an inclusive atmosphere between teams on a more personal level is equally important—sensing the mounting pressure from the frosty tone of emails? Take it as a sign that you all must get to know each other better. Finding a way to have banter or a beer at the end of the day will bring the two sides together and reduce friction. You’re all working towards a common goal, after all! 

3. Design Guides Smooth the Way for Design Handoffs

It may seem like an extra effort, but creating design guides at the beginning of a project is a surefire way to save time during the handoff. A design guide could be a collaborative mini website or document that houses all the UI building blocks needed for design and development. For every designed component, the developers add the code alongside it. 

This will serve as a reference for the developers and be an excellent resource for recruits or remote teams. Similar to an office plant that needs to be watered regularly to be kept alive, the design guide should serve as a living, evolving document that gets updated each time a new component has been completed, avoiding duplicating effort at a later stage.

4. Use Low-Fidelity Prototypes to Gain Early Feedback

Now that you’ve brought the developers into your communications and figured out what rituals work best to build empathy, it’s time to make your initial prototype. Think briefly of yourself as an architect. Before you proceed with the project, you first want to check that everyone is on board with your ideas—the homeowner likes it, the builders can create it, you’ve got planning permission, and so on. So, you make a floor plan that outlines the bare essentials of your vision. 

In the UX world, a low-fidelity prototype is your floor plan. Presenting a low-fidelity outline of your high-level concept gives all stakeholders a clear idea of the end product. It allows you to test the functionality rather than the aesthetic. This means you can course-correct quicker without expending unnecessary effort and reduce risk before committing to anything. 

Tools that are great starting places include:

• Axure
• Sketch
• Keynote

5. High-Fidelity Prototypes Help Finalize Design Handoff

Once you’ve completed your user testing and secured the go-ahead from the developers, it’s time to present your high-fidelity prototype. At this stage, it’s crucial to take the developers through everything step by step, explaining your thinking and reasoning behind each micro-interaction and feature behavior. Hence, they have the opportunity to ask questions as they go along. Being specific about the feature’s intended use will also help the developer build a more detailed idea of how they want to code it. 

For example, if it’s a marketing feature, the developers will know to create something that prioritizes appearance and doesn’t overshadow the design. Luckily, many tools and software are out there to ensure this stage runs smoothly. While software that allows designers to issue and keep track of tickets like:

• Jira 
• Trello

Tools that interface design and developments include:

• Framer
• InVision
• Zeplin

Collaborative Handoff Process

Alongside enabling the developers to add comments on each feature, they also allow the designer to carry out some basic coding, which gives the developers a reference for programming. Win-win. You’ll likely have multiple handoffs for one product, so the communication and rapport you’ve built up between the teams must follow through well after the handoff meeting into the end of the sprint demonstration and feedback session. 

Validating the work carried out by the developers and conducting a post-handoff quality check lets everyone know that they’re collectively on the right track, paving the way for more efficient handoffs.

Related Reading

• Benefits of a Design System
• Best Design Systems
• How to Create a Design System

Start Building Your Application for Free Today

Ion transforms your Figma designs into production-ready code perfectly aligned with your existing codebase and business needs. Our platform bridges the gap between design and development by automatically generating functional code that matches your specific components, styles, and design system. 

We've created a unique solution that empowers non-technical team members to implement visual changes without engineering intervention.

Our tool understands your:

• CI/CD pipelines
• Testing requirements
• Component architecture,

Ensuring that generated code fits seamlessly into your workflow. Whether you're updating design elements or creating new features, Ion helps unlock engineering resources by letting designers and product teams contribute directly to the codebase in a safe, controlled way. 

Start building your application for free today with our design-to-code tool

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