Design System: How to Maintain E-commerce Brand Identity While Rapidly Building an M-commerce App?

A design system allows you to quickly create a mobile app UI tailored to your brand, especially when combined with modern technologies like Flutter in the Rappid Workflow.

As a result, the UX/UI design phase itself is completed about 53% faster, and building an m-commerce app takes up to around 45% less time. Find out how this is possible.

What is a design system and how does it work in Rappid Workflow?

A design system is a set of ready-to-use building blocks we usedto create an app. It includes elements such as buttons, forms, cart, checkout, or home screens, which helps maintain a consistent UI look and feel. The design system also contains guidelines the project relies on, covering colors, typography, and how to use individual screens.

Rappid Workflow, on the other hand, is a system for building apps in Flutter. It differs from typical low-code solutions because it relies on developer-written code while utilizing AI to automate processes. To quickly build mobile apps in Rappid, we rely on the design system.

As a result, unlike with no-code or low-code builders, we don’t get a generic-looking app, but rather a design tailored to the brand’s unique identity. Preparing it also takes far less time compared to traditional mobile app development.

How does a design system work in Rappid Workflow?

In practice, developing a design system and creating a clickable app prototype based on it serves as the first step when building a new product. Only after the design is approved do we leverage AI. The artificial intelligence adapts our custom-written code based on the Figma project (a UI/UX design tool).

The design system consists of various modules containing UI components. We created this core library based on standard user journeys used in m-commerce apps. Importantly, these components are fully editable. If your brand relies on specific colors, typography, or icons in its visual identity, our design system allows you to incorporate all of these elements into the project seamlessly.

What exactly is customizable?

• Colors
• Fonts
• Product photos and graphic
• Component layout within defined variants

How long does it take to adapt a design system for an e-commerce brand?

According to our benchmarks, a design system in Rappid Workflow can reduce the time needed to prepare UI/UX design by up to around 53%. Much depends on whether the brand already has defined visual identity elements or, at least, specific preferences.

The key, however, is that we don’t have to build everything from scratch, which—in the case of a standard m-commerce app—takes about 36 working days (man-days, or MD) of UX/UI design alone.

After that, some additional time needs to be allocated to fine-tuning various elements to ensure the entire project fully satisfies the client. This includes tasks not strictly tied to branding, such as customizing product tiles. Altogether, for a standard m-commerce app, this process takes about 17 MD.

This ~53% reduction applies solely to the UX/UI design phase. Building the app is a separate stage: development, QA testing, and store release take around 55 MD with the traditional approach and about 30.5 MD using Rappid Workflow, which is roughly 45% less. If a project covers both phases, the entire process is shortened from 91 to 47.5 MD, or by approximately 48%.

What if there is no visual brand identity?

Not every company starting a project already has established colors, typography, or a complete brand identity. In such cases, we begin the process with a workshop to determine your preferences regarding the brand’s visual identity.

Alternatively, we can prepare proposals based on your answers to our questionnaire, which helps us understand what matters to you, what you like, and what should align with your brand’s personality.

Only once we develop the branding elements do we adapt the design system to fit them. Therefore, you don’t need a ready-made brand book to get started. At Holdapp, we can suggest the right direction to take when designing your app.

Is it worth opting for a design system in Rappid Workflow?

A design system within Rappid Workflow allows you to build m-commerce apps faster while maintaining a unique brand identity. Using a design system reduces UX/UI design time by around 53% (from 36 to 17 MD). Building the app itself—development, QA testing, and store release—takes about 45% less time (from 55 to 30.5 MD). When a project covers both phases, the entire process is shortened by approximately 48% (from 91 to 47.5 MD).

Rappid Workflow was born out of 14 years of experience building apps for brands such as Answear, Homla, and Medicine, among others. Check out our portfolio to see the m-commerce apps we create at Holdapp.

Want to see what a brand-tailored design system may look like in practice? Book a consultation, and let’s discuss your project in Rappid Workflow.