Working at an agency, we have the opportunity to partner with a host of different clients and products. The majority of what we build is custom and we appreciate component libraries for their speed and ease of use. Working with tech startups, we recognize things move fast, and in order to keep your build and budget on time, you have to look for ways to build smarter. Design systems and component libraries allow you to do just that. We needed Minerva UI to be highly dynamic and customizable with documentation and design that were up-to-date and beginner-friendly.

The CrateBind product design team tackled both the branding and component design for Minerva UI with the goal of offering a 1-1 Figma component library so that fellow product designers could work seamlessly with their engineering teams. As we built the brand, we focused on integrating timeless truth with modern style. In Roman mythology, Minerva is the goddess of strategy and wisdom. Often represented by the owl of Minerva, the logo is a callback to this bit of historical lore and reinforces our belief that using a design system and/or component library is a wise move every time. Complete with a dark mode set of components, the library is designed with an intuitive product forward focus.

Having interacted with a lot of libraries, we discovered each of them had great elements, but they were all missing little bits and pieces. So we set out to create one we were excited to use. It needed to be well designed, accessible, highly composable and globally themed. To that end, Minerva UI is a team effort with the hope that fellow React engineers will be able to build their apps faster and smarter without creative compromise.