How to Get Interface Inventories Right
A catalog of every component, style and pattern in use across a product or site.
Priya Raghunathan
At a glance
- Screenshots collecting real examples makes duplication visible
- Counts the number of button or heading styles reveals drift
- Prioritization the most duplicated components are the best place to start
- Repeatability inventories should be repeated periodically
Why it matters
Why it matters: Inventories show the real scale of inconsistency, which is usually worse than teams expect.
Best practice
- Collect examples from real screens
- Group by component type
- Count variants to show scale
- Use the inventory to prioritize system work
- Repeat the inventory after major releases
Common pitfalls
Watch out for:
- Inventories based on design files only
- One-off audits with no follow-up
- Cataloging without prioritizing
- Ignoring legacy areas of the product
When to call in a specialist
Bottom line Bring in help before starting a design system.
Where this comes from
- Nielsen Norman Group — Design systems
- U.S. Web Design System — Components
The figures and practices above come from the sources listed.
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