Okay, I know designers are nowhere near lazy. But making our work just a bit easier every day is surely a desirable skill to possess.

Take, for instance, the UI kits you put on your projects – buttons, icons, sliders, visual controls and other design elements. How long does it take to get them created? If you’re a perfectionist then it’s probably way too long… Am I right?

And it gets even worse if you’re a developer who’s outsourcing the design part of each project. In such a case, before you can get your hands on a nice kit, you have to send your guidelines to the designer, pay up front, and then wait for the final product to arrive. And it is not even guaranteed to be what you’ve expected.

In a word, UI kits are a hassle to make or get made. But before I point you towards a solution, let’s explain why exactly UI kits are so important for a properly executed web design project.

Problems with web graphics kits

Here’s the thing, whenever you’re working for a client, they will expect the design you deliver to look as perfect as possible. And unfortunately for us, the UI kits play a huge role in this sort of overall impression. It’s always the smallest details that can make our projects beautiful or kill them completely. And I’m guessing you don’t want your client to ask you the dreaded question: “What am I paying you for?!”

Plus, as a former web design business owner, I can tell you that clients who are not 100% satisfied with your work don’t come back with new projects.

Where to get design kits

Try using Google for starters … just kidding, there’s nothing of any decent quality around.

I mean, there are some icons here and there, but it’s hard to find any actual resource with a consistent directory of quality stuff in it.

Of course, you can reach out to some stock designers specializing in this kind of things, but I hope you have your wallet ready with lots of cash in it, if you know what I mean.

I actually have a friend who has made his early career by being the “icons guy.” No joke. He was able to make a full-time salary just by working a couple of hours a day creating new icons and sending them out to people. Let it give you an idea of the price range for this kind of services.

PixelKit.com to the rescue

As it turns out, there is a decent solution out there for anyone who needs a proper UI kit from time to time. Its name is PixelKit. In short, it’s a library of high-quality UI kits and other design resources.

What sets it apart from any other resource central is the fact that it’s 100% specialized in UI kits (buttons, icons, sliders, menu elements, boxes, app screens, visual controls and other design elements). Think of it like a steakhouse… You can eat a steak in almost every restaurant. But if you want it to be any good, you go to a steakhouse.

On the technical side, PixelKit is subscription based. This means that you have to pay some money to get unlimited access to the library. But here’s the best part, it’s $39 per year. Yes, per year, not per month like it’s usually done.

What’s inside

Before you hop over to PixelKit yourself and see what’s going on, I’m only going to list some of the coolest elements briefly:

• Thousands of graphics inside. Every kit is properly extensive so you can find loads of different elements and icons in it. (This was one of the problems with various packs available on the web – some of them contained just a handful of elements, which made it quite impossible to use the pack in an actual project.)
• Compatible with 960 grids. This makes the graphics easy to include in most HTML structures.
• All graphics are scalable – one word: vectors.
• Mobile-compatible. Let’s face it, making your new project mobile-friendly is a must these days.
• New graphics added every month.

The main benefit

For me, the main benefit of subscribing to a service like PixelKit is the time you’ll save.

Basically, when you have access to quality UI kits, you can finish a project faster. And when you finish a project faster, you can start the next one sooner… and so on. In the end, it’s a win for everybody.

But don’t take my word for it, check it out and shoot me a comment on what you think. While I’m at it, I’m actually curious to know, what’s your current source of UI kits? Do you create them yourself?