At UXPin, we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the design and development workflow, especially for smaller teams and projects. Often, designers and developers have to juggle tasks between design tools and codebases, resulting in inefficiencies and delays. This is where UXPin Merge comes into play—a tool that unifies the design and development process by allowing both teams to work with real code components.
If you’re a developer working on a small project and looking for a way to streamline your UI development, I’ll walk you through how UXPin Merge can help accelerate your work and bring more consistency between design and development.
What’s UXPin Merge and Why Should Developers Care?
At its core, UXPin Merge is a design tool that lets developers and designers work directly with real code components. Instead of designers handing off static mockups that developers need to translate into code, UXPin Merge lets both teams work with the same components—meaning what you design is what you build.
For a small project where resources are tight and time is of the essence, this is a massive advantage. You’re not wasting time reworking designs or re-implementing components. Plus, everything is built with production-ready React code, ensuring the UI remains consistent and easy to maintain as the project grows.
How Does UXPin Merge Work?
1. - Use Popular Open-Source Component Libraries
One of the biggest time-savers is the built-in access to popular UI libraries. UXPin Merge gives you trial kits for MUI, Ant Design, and Bootstrap—all open-source libraries that developers often use in production. With these kits, you don’t need to design components from scratch. Just drag and drop the same React components you’d use in your codebase into the UXPin editor.
Check how you can build a dashboard in 15 minutes: https://medium.com/@uxpin/how-to-design-a-dashboard-in-around-15-minutes-147c867d3ae6
2. Seamless Component Customization
The best part of using real code in UXPin is the customization options. When you drag in a component (like a button from MUI), you can toggle between different variants—size, color, states—just like you would if you were coding it in React. This not only speeds up the design phase but also ensures consistency with the final implementation.
Since the components are backed by real React code, you’re not locked into design environment. But if you want to adjust the padding, switch colors, or modify the component’s state, you can do it directly within the editor—no need to go back and forth with a designer to communicate the changes.
3. Integrating Custom Code Components
On my projects, I often have custom components that don’t fit into the typical open-source libraries. UXPin Merge lets you bring in your own React components and use them as design elements in the tool. This means your entire component library—from the most common to the highly specialized—is available right in your design workflow.
You can also do so with Tailwind UI code. You can copy the code directly into UXPin, and it generates a fully functional UI element on the canvas—no design from scratch needed.
4. AI-Powered Component Creation
Here’s a bonus: UXPin also offers AI-powered component generation. You can input a simple text prompt like “Persona Card,” and the AI generates a fully functional code-based component using Tailwind CSS. While this feature is still in its early stages (currently supports Tailwind CSS), it has huge potential, especially for smaller projects that require quick iterations.
Let's say you need a simple testimonial card on a landing page, You can use the AI tool in UXPin to generate the component without opening a code editor. It can save you time and helps you stay focused on higher-priority development tasks.
5. Effortless Developer Handoff with Real Code
This is where UXPin Merge shines—when it’s time to move from design to development. Once your UI is designed, there’s no need for lengthy spec documents or tedious explanations. UXPin allows you to share a preview link with your team, which includes real JSX code, component dependencies, and functions.
Developers can access the actual code behind each component, copy it, and paste it directly into the codebase. If you’ve ever dealt with unclear handoffs or misaligned designs, this feature eliminates those issues completely. You’re essentially skipping the translation phase between design and development, which is a huge win, especially for smaller teams.
Why UXPin Merge is Perfect for Small Projects
At UXPin, we designed Merge to simplify and speed up workflows—particularly for small projects and teams that need to stay agile. Here’s why it’s a perfect fit for those working on small to medium-sized projects:
No Design-Development Bottleneck – By using real code components in your design process, you’re cutting down the inefficiencies caused by misaligned handoffs and rework.
Time-Saving Pre-Built Components – Whether you’re using MUI, Ant, Bootstrap, or custom components, you can work with components you’d normally code, right inside your design tool.
Flexible Custom Code – If you’ve got your own React or Tailwind components, UXPin Merge integrates them seamlessly into your workflow—allowing you to work faster and with more flexibility.
Accurate Developer Handoff – By providing actual JSX code to developers, you eliminate the typical back-and-forth between teams and ensure that your designs are implemented exactly as intended.
Wrapping It Up
If you’re a developer, UXPin Merge can significantly reduce friction between design and development, making your UI development process faster and more consistent. With pre-built component libraries, real-time customizations, and seamless handoff with JSX code, UXPin Merge gives you everything you need to streamline your workflow—especially on small projects where efficiency is key.
Want to see how UXPin Merge can work for your team? Head over to UXPin Merge and try it out for yourself!
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