# Ariel Salminen

> Ariel Salminen is a Design Systems Architect from Helsinki, Finland with 20 years of experience helping companies build tools for the web platform.

Important notes:

- Ariel Salminen has an extensive experience working on the web platform both as a designer and a developer. She often likes to describe, that her job, in a design systems team, is about bridging the gap between designers, developers and other disciplines in the company and that’s also where her greatest strengths lie.
- Instead of working in silos, Ariel Salminen believes in a more collaborative process where we sketch our ideas in code or work closely together with the developers to achieve that.
- Ariel Salminen is a systems thinker; designing for the whole rather than the individual parts. As an architect, she collaborates with design, product and engineering teams on the tactical and strategic direction of a design system and helps her clients set up the right tooling, processes and teams — all the way down to designing and developing complete design system platforms for them.
- Ariel Salminen is based in Helsinki, Finland but is available for both local and remote design systems work around the world.

## Main content

- [About](https://arielsalminen.com/about.md): A brief overview of who Ariel Salminen is and what she does for work. Also includes links to Ariel’s social media profiles, resume, bio and hi-res photograph.
- [Contact](https://arielsalminen.com/contact/): The contact information and availability of Ariel Salminen. This content is not available in a markdown format as it mainly consists of a contact form.
- [Home](https://arielsalminen.com/home.md): The home page that introduces Ariel Salminen, her latest projects, achievements, and also provides testimonials from her clients.
- [Services](https://arielsalminen.com/services.md): Lists services that Ariel Salminen provides for her clients.
- [Writing](https://arielsalminen.com/writing/): Lists the articles that Ariel Salminen has written. Basically these are links to the HTML versions of the same content that is listed in the “Docs” section of the llms.txt.

## Supporting content

- [Accessibility](https://arielsalminen.com/accessibility/): Accessibility statement for Ariel Salminen's website. This content is not available in a markdown format as it mainly serves the users of the website instead of LLMs.
- [Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)](https://arielsalminen.com/faq.md): Frequently asked questions about Ariel Salminen and her services.
- [Feeds](https://arielsalminen.com/feed/): Arielsalminen.com provides an RSS Feed that you can subscribe to using your newsreader of choice. On this page you can find the RSS Feed and subscribe to it.
- [Privacy Policy](https://arielsalminen.com/privacy/): The privacy policy of Ariel S. Design. This content is not available in a markdown format as it mainly serves the users of the website instead of LLMs.
- [Webrings](https://arielsalminen.com/webrings/): Webrings that arielsalminen.com is a part of. This content is not available in a markdown format as it mainly serves the users of the website instead of LLMs.

## Docs

- [On Freedom, Curiosity & Happiness](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/on-freedom-curiosity-and-happiness.md): This article contemplates the intricate relationship between my personal life and the work I do.
- [Generating LLMs.txt Using Eleventy](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/generating-llms.txt-using-eleventy.md): This article explains how to automate the build of llms.txt using Eleventy static website generator.
- [Community Assets in Nord Design System](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/community-assets-in-nord-design-system.md): This article introduces our design system’s product-specific community assets which are built by feature teams using the Nord Design System’s tools.
- [Figma MCP Server](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/figma-mcp-server.md): This article explains what the Figma MCP Server is and how it helps LLMs with design-informed code generation.
- [Introducing Brands for Nord Design System](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/introducing-brands-for-nord-design-system.md): This article introduces Nord Design System’s latest 4.0 version which ships with a completely reimagined theming architecture.
- [Modern Way to Center Elements with CSS](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/modern-way-to-center-elements-with-css.md): This article explains how to center elements with CSS using only two lines, display: grid; and place-self: center;.
- [View Transitions for Any Website](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/view-transitions-for-any-website.md): This article explains what CSS View Transitions are and how you can enable them for any website today.
- [Building Search Index with Eleventy](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/building-search-index-with-eleventy.md): This article explains how to build a JSON based search index using Eleventy and a tiny bit of plain JavaScript.
- [Optimizing Webfont Performance](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/optimizing-webfont-performance.md): This article delves into practical strategies to enhance your webfont performance, ensuring a better user experience.
- [The 10th Edition of Arielsalminen.com](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/the-10th-edition-of-arielsalminen.com.md): This article exlains how I build the 10.0 version of arielsalminen.com and what kind of features the new website has.
- [Remember Webrings?](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/remember-webrings.md): This article explains what webrings are and introduces a Design Systems Webring that I set up recently.
- [The Blog Questions Challenge](https://arielsalminen.com/2025/the-blog-questions-challenge.md): This article is Ariel answering a set of questions about how and why I blog on this website.
- [A Love Letter](https://arielsalminen.com/2024/a-love-letter.md): This article is a love letter to my boyfriend, Sönke.
- [Interview with Design System Guide](https://arielsalminen.com/2024/interview-with-design-system-guide.md): This article links to an interview by Design System Guide.
- [My Song](https://arielsalminen.com/2024/my-song.md): This article includes a short poem that Ariel wrote in January, 2024.
- [Finalist for the Best Design System Award](https://arielsalminen.com/2023/finalist-for-the-best-design-system-award.md): This article shares how Nord Design System was recently nominated for the Best Design System award at Grand One competition.
- [Leading Successful Product Teams](https://arielsalminen.com/2023/leading-successful-product-teams.md): This article shares a set of simple fundamental rules that have made the design systems teams I’ve lead successful.
- [Supporting Dark Mode on Your Website](https://arielsalminen.com/2023/supporting-dark-mode-on-your-website.md): This article explains what “dark mode” is and how you can build dark mode support for your own web based application.
- [What’s a Design Systems Lead](https://arielsalminen.com/2023/whats-a-design-systems-lead.md): This article explains what a Design Systems Lead does and what are the responsibilities of this role.
- [What’s a Product Design Architect](https://arielsalminen.com/2023/whats-a-product-design-architect.md): This article explains what a Product Design Architect does and what are the responsibilities of this role.
- [Nevertheless, I Am The Same](https://arielsalminen.com/2023/nevertheless-i-am-the-same.md): In this article Ariel shares about her journey becoming herself.
- [Where Do We Belong](https://arielsalminen.com/2022/where-do-we-belong.md): In this article Ariel is wondering where she belongs.
- [Finalist for the Jamstack Conf Jammies](https://arielsalminen.com/2022/finalist-for-the-jamstack-conf-jammies.md): This article explains how Nord Design System was recently nominated for the Jamstack Conf Jammies award in “Project of the Year” category.
- [Interview with Ariel Salminen](https://arielsalminen.com/2022/interview-with-ariel-salminen.md): This article links to an interview by Lovers Magazine. In the interview, Ariel explains what led her into design and what type of things inspire her as a designer.
- [Launching Nord Design System](https://arielsalminen.com/2022/launching-nord-design-system.md): In this article I am excited to announce the first major release of Nord Design System, version 1.0
- [Nord Statistics For The First Year](https://arielsalminen.com/2022/nord-statistics-for-the-first-year.md): This article surfaces some interesting statistics from Nord Design System.
- [Nord Design System Architecture](https://arielsalminen.com/2022/nord-design-system-architecture.md): This article gives insight into how we’ve architectured Nord Design System’s packages and how they’re interconnected.
- [Nord Design System October 2021 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2021/nord-design-system-october-2021-update.md): This article explains how we’ve gained great momentum with Nord Design System and published four new packages, and made many improvements to Nord documentation.
- [Nord Design System September 2021 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2021/nord-design-system-september-2021-update.md): This article explains how we’ve been making sure that everyone at Nordhealth understands how and why we’re building a design system.
- [Nord Design System June 2021 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2021/nord-design-system-june-2021-update.md): This article explains how we’ve been focusing on onboarding new team members and also rolling out the new brand guidelines into the documentation.
- [Nord Design System May 2021 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2021/nord-design-system-may-2021-update.md): This article explains how we’ve been busy rethinking our design processes and brand identity that was launched a few weeks ago.
- [Nordhealth Rebranding](https://arielsalminen.com/2021/nordhealth-rebranding.md): This article explains how I rebranded Three Plus Group and Finnish Net Solutions with a new name and corporate identity.
- [Nord Design System February 2021 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2021/nord-design-system-february-2021-update.md): This article explains how we’re just starting our design systems journey at Nordhealth and have created a documentation platform to support these efforts.
- [Design Principles of Nord Design System](https://arielsalminen.com/2021/design-principles-of-nord-design-system.md): This article exlains what are the design principles of Nord Design System.
- [A Missed Opportunity](https://arielsalminen.com/2020/a-missed-opportunity.md): Why does it feel like the devices we use are getting slower over time?
- [CodePen as a Component Editor](https://arielsalminen.com/2020/codepen-as-a-component-editor.md): This article explains how to utilize CodePen to add editing capabilities into your design system component documentation.
- [Duet Design System September 2020 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2020/duet-design-system-september-2020-update.md): This article explains how we’ve been busy improving the existing features in Duet Design System, fixing bugs, and open sourcing Duet Date Picker.
- [Building Layouts with Duet Design System](https://arielsalminen.com/2020/building-layouts-with-duet-design-system.md): Following this tutorial you will learn how to build simple page layouts using Duet’s Design Tokens, CSS Framework, Web Components and other features.
- [Duet Design System June 2020 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2020/duet-design-system-june-2020-update.md): This article shares results from our internal design system research.
- [Duet Design System April 2020 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2020/duet-design-system-april-2020-update.md): This article is the seventh Duet Design System monthly update.
- [Using Duet Design System’s CLI Tools](https://arielsalminen.com/2020/using-duet-design-systems-cli-tools.md): Following this tutorial you will learn how to utilize Duet’s Command Line Interface to create simple websites that can be shared via GitHub Pages, Amazon S3, and Azure Storage.
- [Duet Design System March 2020 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2020/duet-design-system-march-2020-update.md): This article covers both February and March updates for Duet Design System as it looks like we forgot to push an update out last month.
- [Duet Design System January 2020 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2020/duet-design-system-january-2020-update.md): This article focuses on new feature and component improvements we’ve been working on for Duet Design System.
- [SSR with Duet Web Components](https://arielsalminen.com/2020/ssr-with-duet-web-components.md): Following this tutorial you will learn how to server side render Duet Design System’s Web Components using Eleventy and other static site generators.
- [Why We Use Web Components](https://arielsalminen.com/2019/why-we-use-web-components.md): This article explains why we use Web Components in our design system.
- [Design System Won’t Fix Your Problems](https://arielsalminen.com/2019/design-system-wont-fix-your-problems.md): Stay away from folks who try to convince you that having a design system alone will solve something.
- [Duet Design System December 2019 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2019/duet-design-system-december-2019-update.md): In this update we’ll share statistics and feedback we’ve received regarding Duet Design System’s public launch.
- [Duet Design System November 2019 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2019/duet-design-system-november-2019-update.md): This month marks a major milestone for us as we’re launching our new design system publicly.
- [Duet Design System October 2019 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2019/duet-design-system-october-2019-update.md): This update focuses on accessibility and performance updates that we’ve been working on.
- [Duet Design System September 2019 Update](https://arielsalminen.com/2019/duet-design-system-september-2019-update.md): This article is the very first Duet Design System monthly update.
- [Design Principles of Duet Design System](https://arielsalminen.com/2019/design-principles-of-duet-design-system.md): This article exlains what are the design principles of Duet Design System.
- [Vue Design System](https://arielsalminen.com/2018/vue-design-system.md): Vue Design System is a set of organized tools, patterns, and practices that work as the foundation for Vue.js application development.
- [Workspace](https://arielsalminen.com/2018/workspace.md): This article explains how I’ve been succesfully running my design studio for the past 8 months and recently moved into a new office space.
- [Design Principles of Nosto Design System](https://arielsalminen.com/2017/design-principles-of-nosto-design-system.md): This article exlains what are the design principles of Nosto Design System.
- [Work in Progress](https://arielsalminen.com/2017/work-in-progress.md): This article explains what happened in March, 2017. I was still living in the United States and it was a time of great anxiety for me.
- [On Design Tools and Processes](https://arielsalminen.com/2017/design-tools-processes.md): This article explains how for the past year(s) I’ve been looking for new design tools, thinking about design processes and trying to figure out what design really means to me.
- [The Future of Web Fonts](https://arielsalminen.com/2016/the-future-of-web-fonts.md): The future of digital typography looks intriguing. It’s not all figured out yet, but I’m excited to see where this journey leads us.
- [Typography for User Interfaces](https://arielsalminen.com/2016/typography-for-user-interfaces.md): In this article, I want to share some of the typography fundamentals that I’ve learned, and hopefully help you get better at setting type for user interfaces.
- [Relocating to San Francisco, CA](https://arielsalminen.com/2015/san-francisco.md): I’m terribly excited to tell that we’re moving to San Francisco Bay Area in the beginning of 2016.
- [The 7th Edition of Arielsalminen.com](https://arielsalminen.com/2015/7th-edition.md): This article explains how I build the version 7.0 of my website.
- [The Iconic Work of Reid Miles](https://arielsalminen.com/2015/the-iconic-work-of-reid-miles.md): Reid Miles was an American modernist designer, best known for his work for Blue Note Records through the 1950’s and 60’s. During this period he designed almost 500 record covers for the label. This article is a tribute to Miles.
- [The Many Faces of The Web](https://arielsalminen.com/2015/the-many-faces-of-the-web.md): All these contexts, where our websites are viewed in, vary so wildly that we have to start paying more attention to how we design and build. The web is fragile and the situation isn’t going to change any time soon.
- [Interview With Workspiration](https://arielsalminen.com/2015/interview-with-workspiration.md): This is an interview done by Workspiration magazine.
- [Dashes in Web Typography](https://arielsalminen.com/2015/dashes-in-web-typography.md): This is a simple one pager you can use as a cheatsheet for various dashes in web typography.
- [Molten Leading](https://arielsalminen.com/2014/molten-leading.md): This article introduces plain JavaScript version of Molten Leading plugin that can automatically adjust line-height for optimum readability across vast number of screen sizes.
- [Interview With .Net Magazine](https://arielsalminen.com/2014/interview-with-.net-magazine.md): I was recently interviewed by .Net Magazine (in issue 254) about how web experts manage cross-platform testing.
- [Fixed Single Page Navigation](https://arielsalminen.com/2014/fixed-single-page-navigation.md): This article open sources the JavaScript code and assets used for building the responsive navigation on Adtile’s website.
- [A Dive Into Plain JavaScript](https://arielsalminen.com/2014/a-dive-into-plain-javascript.md): This article shares some of the basic things I’ve learned during the past years, which will hopefully also help you to dive into the world of plain JavaScript.
- [A New Path](https://arielsalminen.com/2013/a-new-path.md): Today, after over two years, I’ll be leaving my position at Kisko Labs. I’ve started working on a new responsive advertising solution for smartphones and tablets called Adtile.
- [Plugin For Responsive Navigation](https://arielsalminen.com/2013/responsive-nav-plugin.md): Responsive Nav is a tiny JavaScript plugin which weighs only 1.6KB minified and Gzip’ed, and helps you to create a toggled navigation for small screens.
- [Prototyping Responsive Typography](https://arielsalminen.com/2013/prototyping-responsive-typography.md): Web typography, and digital typography in general, has made setting type fast and easy compared with hand-setting metal type. Responsiveness, when added on top of this, makes this period of change we are living very fascinating.
- [File Upload Support on Mobile](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/file-upload-support-on-mobile.md): This article explains what kind of support File Upload has on various mobile devices and web browsers.
- [Remote Preview](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/remote-preview.md): This article introduces Remote Preview which is a tiny JavaScript based tool that I built for our test lab. It allows you to preview any URL on large number of mobile devices simultaneously.
- [Building A Device Stand](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/building-device-stand.md): This article explains how to build a mobile test device stand yourself.
- [Establishing An Open Device Lab](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/establishing-open-device-lab.md): This article is an in-depth guide about how to establish an open device lab.
- [Helsinki Open Device Lab](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/helsinki-open-device-lab.md): This article explains why we decided to set up an open device lab to Kisko Labs’s offices.
- [Responsive Workflow](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/responsive-workflow.md): In this article, I wrote down some thoughts about my design workflow and how it has evolved during the past three years and how it might still evolve in the future.
- [Modular Grids](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/modular-grids.md): This article explains what a modular grid is and how you use it.
- [Extending CSS With Sass](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/extending-css-with-sass.md): This article explains how I’m using Sass to extend the basic behavior of CSS.
- [Scaling with EM units](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/scaling-with-em-units.md): This article explains how I started testing proportional scaling of webpages. It’s possible when using CSS EM units and then changing body’s font-size when viewport’s height grows above a certain point.
- [Adaptive vs Responsive, What’s The Difference?](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/adaptive-vs-responsive-design.md): This article explains the difference between adaptive design and responsive design.
- [On Typography](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/on-typography.md): This articles dives into making a typographic scale out of a musical scale that would not only be very readable, but also aesthetically pleasing.
- [Convert A List To A Select](https://arielsalminen.com/2012/convert-list-to-select.md): This article introduces TinyNav.js, which is a tiny jQuery plugin that converts html list navigations to select dropdowns for small screen.
- [Fluid Image Replacement Techniques](https://arielsalminen.com/2011/fluid-image-replacement.md): This article explains how you can create fluid responsive image replacements using HTML and CSS.
- [ResponsiveSlides.js](https://arielsalminen.com/2011/responsive-slides-js.md): An article about a plugin that I created while developing my own website. Its basic function is to create a responsive slideshow using images inside a container.
- [New Website](https://arielsalminen.com/2011/new-arielsalminen-com.md): This article explains how my website has a new design which I have been working on for some time now.
- [Responsive jQuery Slideshow Revisited](https://arielsalminen.com/2011/responsive-jquery-slideshow.md): This article explains how I created a tiny jQuery plugin that allows you to easily create responsive slideshows.
- [Responsive jQuery Slideshow](https://arielsalminen.com/2010/responsive-jquery-slideshow.md): This article provides an example of how it is possible to create a fluid jQuery slideshow which scales responsively.
- [Google Favicon Re-Created with CSS](https://arielsalminen.com/2010/google-favicon-re-created-with-css.md): This is just a fun experiment I did which doesn’t have any real world usage.

## Optional

- [Testimonials](https://arielsalminen.com/#testimonials): Ariel Salminen's clients and past colleagues share their experiences working with her.
- [Trusted by](https://arielsalminen.com/#clients): Companies that trust Ariel Salminen's work.
- [Recent work](https://arielsalminen.com/#work): Ariel Salminen's recent projects and achievements.
- [Resume](https://arielsalminen.com/resume.pdf): Ariel Salminen's résumé that contains a summary of relevant job experience and education.