If a project is really mature, reusable components in design tools can work. But for early stage stuff, they can quickly prove more trouble than they're worth.

If a project is really mature, reusable components in design tools can work. But for early stage stuff, they can quickly prove more trouble than they're worth. The designer's job is to think creatively, on behalf of the user, through the entire system, the states, the transitions. Faffing around with reusable components gets in the way of the right kind of thought, IMHO. It's like the design version of big complex class hierarchies. Done too early, they will really slow you down.