Design system for side projects

When building side projects I always look to be moving as quickly as possible - my main objective in the very beginning is putting the product in the hands of my prospective users. That's why I tend to use ready-made components (built around Material Design, Bootstrap, Bulma etc).

I think very similarly to @tsongas . Design is rarely how you delivery value to your customers (although in some cases it is extremely important, if you're building an app for designers for example). So I'll also advise you to focus on what creates value for your users, build that, iterate over your core offering to make it as valuable as possible, and only then focus on the UX/UI and making it pleasant to use and look at.

Hey :) Having a design system is more related to the mindset and the workflow you want to follow. At Pressidium where I work we build our own custom design system alongside our product. We don't treat it as a separate product but as a part of our product development process. Feel free to check it out here http://design.pressidium.com/. We took a huge inspiration from https://polaris.shopify.com/ which is by far the best and most meaningful design system out there.

But if you are interested in using a ready to use design and not building your own take a look on https://buefy.github.io/#/ It's pretty minimal and easy to use.

Finally, be careful to not lose a lot of time on this :) Shipping matters most of all. Design system should be there to help you go forward and not to hold you back. So try to find the solution that works best for you ;)

(P.S. @BetaPeak said it right " I'll also advise you to focus on what creates value for your users, build that, iterate over your core offering to make it as valuable as possible, and only then focus on the UX/UI and making it pleasant to use and look at")

I'd say if all your side projects look unique and exciting, you're focusing on the wrong thing!