Design Handoff
Table of Contents
Overview
Design handoff bridges design and development, ensuring developers have all information needed to implement designs accurately and efficiently.
When to Use
- Before development starts
- Feature completion in design
- Component library updates
- Design system changes
- Iterative refinement handoff
Quick Start
Minimal working example:
Design Handoff Package:
Overview:
- Feature description
- User flows
- Key interactions
- Platform (web, iOS, Android)
Screens & Components:
- All screen designs
- Responsive variants (mobile, tablet, desktop)
- All component states (default, hover, focus, disabled, error)
- Dark mode variants (if applicable)
Specifications:
- Typography (font, size, weight, line-height)
- Spacing & layout (padding, margin, gaps)
- Colors (hex values, opacity)
- Shadows & elevations
- Border radius
- Animations & transitions
Interactions:
- Click/tap behaviors
- Hover states
// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)Reference Guides
Detailed implementations in the references/ directory:
| Guide | Contents |
|---|---|
| Developer-Friendly Documentation | Developer-Friendly Documentation |
| Handoff Checklist | Handoff Checklist |
| Design-Dev Collaboration | Design-Dev Collaboration |
Best Practices
✅ DO
- Create comprehensive documentation
- Export all assets and specifications
- Document every component state
- Include responsive variants
- Explain design decisions
- Provide developer-friendly specs
- Use shared design tools
- Schedule kickoff meeting
- Make yourself available for questions
- Review implementations and iterate
❌ DON'T
- Expect developers to guess
- Leave responsive design to chance
- Skip edge case documentation
- Use unclear specifications
- Disappear after handoff
- Change designs mid-development without notification
- Provide images instead of vector files
- Ignore technical constraints
- Miss performance considerations
- Skip accessibility in handoff