# Design Rails vs DIY

You could write your own brand guidelines, pick colors, choose fonts, and create design tokens manually. Here's what that actually looks like.

TL;DR

**DIY**

DIY if you have design experience and enjoy the process.

**Design Rails**

Use Design Rails if you'd rather spend those hours on your actual product.

| Feature                 | DIY           | Design Rails    |
|------------------------|---------------|------------------|
| Define brand voice      | 1-2 hours     | Guided chat      |
| Choose color palette    | 1-2 hours     | AI-suggested     |
| Select typography       | 1-2 hours     | AI-suggested     |
| Create logo            | 2-8 hours     | Generated        |
| Write agent context     | 2-8 hours     | Auto-generated    |
| Create design tokens    | 2-8 hours     | Auto-generated    |
| Total time             | 9-30 hours    | ~30 minutes      |

#### The bottom line

The DIY approach isn't just about time—it's about knowing what to do. What makes a good color system? How do you write component guidelines an AI will understand? Design Rails encodes design expertise into the process. You answer questions about your product; it handles the design decisions.